US soldier wounded helping to overpower gunman on train in France

A machine gun-toting attacker wounded three people on a high-speed train in France on August 21 before being overpowered by passengers who included an American soldier.

Officials said the attacker was arrested after the shooting when the Amsterdam-to-Paris train stopped at Arras station in northern France.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the French anti-terrorism prosecutor was investigating the incident and that the gunman's motives were not known.

The wounded included the US citizen and French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, Cazeneuve said.

Chris Norman, a 62-year-old British consultant, told reporters he had been sitting in the same carriage as the Americans when they heard a shot.

Alek Skarlatos, a 22-year-old member of the US National Guard from Oregon, said his friend, who is also in the military, had been injured while he grappled with the gunman. They eventually got the attacker under control, Norman said.

British media cited a Foreign Office official saying no British national had been injured, as had been previously reported by the French interior ministry.

France has been on high security alert since Islamist militants killed 17 people in and around Paris in January, among them staff of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and hostages held in a Jewish shop.

Commending the involvement of what he said were two US citizens, Cazeneuve said: "Without their courage, we would have surely faced a terrible tragedy."

A spokesman for the United States European Command confirmed that one of the passengers who had been injured was a US soldier, and said his life was not in danger.

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