This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/21/amsterdam-paris-train-gunman-france

The article has changed 15 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Gunman opens fire on Amsterdam-Paris train, wounding three people Gunman opens fire on Amsterdam-Paris train, wounding two people
(about 3 hours later)
A gunman has shot and wounded three people on a high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris before being overpowered by passengers and arrested by police. A heavily armed gunman opened fire on a high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday, injuring two people before being overpowered by two American soldiers who were on board. French anti-terrorist police were questioning the gunman who was arrested after the train made an emergency stop at the station of Arras, near the French-Belgian border.
The shooting happened at around 6pm as the Thalys train was travelling near Arras in northern France, the French state rail company SNCF said. The motives behind the attack were not immediately known, although French prosecutors said an inquiry was being launched by counter-terrorism investigators. According to the early briefings, the gunman was known to French intelligence services and was Moroccan or of Moroccan origin and aged 26.
French media said the gunman had shot a Kalashnikov on board the train, and was also armed with knives. The shooting happened just before 6pm in the last carriage of the TGV train which was carrying a total of 554 passengers. The man had several weapons in his luggage, including a Kalashnikov, an automatic pistol, and razor blades.
The local paper La Voix du Nord reported that two US marines on the train had overpowered the man. The paper reported that the marines had intervened when the man was loading heavy ammunition in a toilet on the train. Both marines were reported to have been injured, one by gunfire, the other by a knife. The two men who tackled the gunman were American soldiers who had apparently heard him loading his weapons in the train’s toilet. They had confronted him when he left the cubicle, investigators confirmed to AFP. The shooting is believed to have taken place as the man left the toilet and the Americans tackled and overpowered him.
The train stopped at Arras station where the gunman was arrested and is currently being questioned by police. Various other arms were reportedly found in the suspect’s baggage. One victim – believed to be one of the American soldiers – was hit by a bullet. He was airlifted to hospital in Lille for treatment. The second suffered cuts to his elbow caused by a box cutter knife and a fractured hand.
The motives behind the attack were not immediately known, but French anti-terrorist police took over the investigation. Belgian and Dutch police were also working on the inquiry. The French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, who appeared in the 1986 cult film Betty Blue starring Beatrice Dalle, was also lightly injured in the incident. He was reportedly hurt while breaking the glass to activate the train’s alarm.
An official with the French police union Alliance told the iTele television station that the suspect had told police he was a 26-year-old Moroccan. French media said he wasn’t carrying identity papers. The suspect is believed to have boarded the train in Belgium and the shooting took place as the train was travelling through Belgian territory. The Belgian prime minister Charles Michel tweeted his condemnation of what he called the “terrorist attack”.
The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, was heading to Arras in the wake of the incident and was expected to make a statement. Je condamne l'attaque terroriste dans le @thalys_fr et fais part de ma sympathie pour les victimes.
The French president, François Hollande, said: “All is being done to shed light on this drama.” The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, who rushed to Arras, said the American passengers “were particularly courageous and showed great bravery in very difficult circumstances”. He said: “Without their sangfroid, we could have been confronted with a terrible drama.” He described the incident as an act of “barbaric violence”. The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, also expressed his gratitude to the soldiers.
One passenger told BFMTV that the incident happened towards the back of the train, the train braked several times, was diverted to Arras station and passengers were evacuated. The French president François Hollande, said: “All is being done to shed light on this drama.” He had spoken to the Belgian prime minister and the two countries two were cooperating on the investigation.
Two of the victims were seriously injured and at least one suffered gunshot wounds, an SNCF spokesman said. “The passengers are safe, the situation has been brought under control,” said the train operator Thalys, jointly owned by the national rail companies of Belgium, France and Germany.
Passengers in other carriages described on French TV how the train braked several times before pulling in to Arras station, where the man was arrested. Train alarms had gone off on board the train and passengers in other carriages had heard train staff communicating with each other by loudspeaker about an ongoing incident just before the train pulled in.
The passengers were taken to a gymnasium in Arras, where several were treated for shock, French media reported. One passenger, Patrick Arres, 51, told AFP that when the train pulled into Arras station, he saw more than 30 armed police on the tracks. “They were looking for someone. People were scared.”
France remains on high alert after January’s terrorist attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris in January, in which gunmen killed 17 people. And in May last year, four people, including two Israeli tourists, were killed when a French gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.