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American servicemen overpowered a gunman armed with a Kalashnikov who opened fire on a high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday, preventing what the White House said could have been a “far worse tragedy”.
According to initial information from investigators, two of the men who tackled the gunman were American troops who had apparently heard him loading his weapons in a toilet cubicle and confronted him after he came out.
Two people were wounded in the incident, with the Pentagon confirming that one was a member of the US military. The gunman had a Kalashnikov, an automatic pistol and a box cutter, one police source said.
The suspect, who was arrested when the train stopped at the northern French town of Arras, was a 26-year-old from Morocco or of Moroccan origin who was known to the intelligence services, French investigators said.

Watch: France train gunman identified, American "hero" leaves hospital
US President Barack Obama praised the passengers for their actions.
“The president expressed his profound gratitude for the courage and quick thinking of several passengers, including US service members, who selflessly subdued the attacker,” a White House official said. “Their heroic actions may have prevented a far worse tragedy.”
The motives for the shooting were not immediately known, although French prosecutors said counter-terrorism investigators had taken over the probe.
France has been on high alert since Islamist gunmen went on the rampage in January, killing 17 people in Paris.
WATCH: Video circulating online shows the moments after the gunman was subdued (WARNING: may be upsetting to some readers)

“I condemn the terrorist attack on the Thalys [train] and express my sympathy to the victims,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Twitter of the incident, which occurred while the train was in Belgium.
The man opened fire at 5.50pm, train operator Thalys said.
The gunman was arrested 10 minutes later when the train, with 554 passengers on board, stopped at Arras station where armed police were waiting, a spokesman for the French state rail company SNCF said.
The Pentagon said one of those hurt was a member of the US military but his injuries were not life-threatening.
One victim was hit by a bullet, while the second suffered cuts to his elbow caused by a box cutter. There was no immediate confirmation that they were the men who had subdued the suspect.
One of the passengers on the train, who asked to be identified only as Damien, 35, said he had heard the gunman shooting but initially thought the sound came from a toy.
“The man stopped between two carriages, fired and it made a click-click-click sound, not at all like in the films,” he said, still clearly shocked.
“Then the man, who was bare-chested, returned to carriage 12 and someone in a green T-shirt, with a shaved head, saw him and jumped on him and pinned him to the ground.”
French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, who appeared in the 1986 cult film Betty Blue staring Beatrice Dalle, suffered minor injuries as he tried to activate the train’s alarm, a spokesman for French rail operator SNCF said.
The gunman had probably boarded the train in Brussels, a police source said.
Media reports said a Briton was also injured, but the Foreign Office in London said it had no reports of any British casualties.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who went to Arras in the wake of the incident, also praised the Americans who had subdued the suspect.
They showed “great bravery in very trying circumstances”, he said. “Without their cool-headed actions we could have been faced with a terrible incident.”
French President Francois Hollande said “everything is being done to shed light” on the shooting.
Witness Nicolas Martinage, 17, said he had seen the victims being taken off the train in Arras.
“There were two people with blood on them, one had a wound to the eye. The second was around 30 and had a bandage on his shoulder. Both men were on stretchers,” he said.
One passenger, Patrick Arres, 51, said 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 edge after Islamic extremists attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January in a spree that killed 17 people and shocked the world.
In June, a man beheaded his boss and tried to blow up a gas plant in southern France in what prosecutors say was an attack inspired by the Islamic State group.
In May last year, four people, including two Israeli tourists, were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.


American soldiers overpower gunman who opened fire on train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris

Police work next to the train at the main train station in Arras, northern France, following the attack. Photo: EPA

From left to right, U.S. Ambassador to France Jane Hartley, U.S. serviceman Spencer Stone, U.S. student Anthony Sadler and U.S. serviceman Alek Skarlatos attend a press conference at the U.S. embassy in Paris, France, on August 23, 2015. Photo: EPA

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President Obama expresses 'profound gratitude' for the actions of those who prevented 'a far worse tragedy'.


President Obama expresses 'profound gratitude' for the actions of those who prevented 'a far worse tragedy'.


American soldiers overpower gunman who opened fire on train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}President Obama expresses 'profound gratitude' for the actions of those who prevented 'a far worse tragedy'.

President Obama expresses 'profound gratitude' for the actions of those who prevented 'a far worse tragedy'.