A US passenger who tackled a gunman on a train from Amsterdam to Paris said survival instinct led him to react.
Off-duty
US airman Spencer Stone said he had just woken from a deep sleep when
he saw the gunman and moved to restrain him on Friday.
His friend, Alek Skarlatos, a member of the US National Guard, said the gunman appeared to have no training.
French authorities say the suspect, Moroccan national Ayoub El-Kahzzani, 25, has links to radical Islamism.
French
police are questioning the gunman who was flagged up to French
authorities by their Spanish counterparts in February 2014.
He is reported to have lived in France, Spain, and Belgium and to have travelled to Syria.
Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris
The
French are enthralled by the three Americans who acted so swiftly to
stop the Thalys gunman. In their news conference Sunday afternoon at the
US embassy in Paris, they came over as archetypes of American masculine
virtue: handsome, strong, modest.
Deep in the French gene, there
is something that responds positively to this. It is the same spirit
that is so grateful - 70 years on - for the American sacrifice in the
Normandy landings: a recognition of the American capacity to join moral
clarity with swift, decisive action.
Recognition,
but also not a little envy. The press has made much of the fact that
while the three Americans - and their ally the British businessman Chris
Norman - have been feted with news conferences and all the rigmarole of
instant fame, the Frenchman who also played a heroic part has preferred
to remain anonymous.
It is a source of national pride - and a relief - that it was not just les Anglo-Saxons who "had a go". Viewpoint: New anti-terror approach needed Profile: Ayoub El-Khazzani What we know
Mr
Stone, Mr Skarlatos and a third American, Anthony Sadler, have been
hailed as heroes for their actions on Friday, and were giving a press
conference at the US embassy in Paris.
It was the first appearance
before the cameras for Mr Stone, who has been treated in hospital and
was wearing a sling because of injuries to his thumb.
Asked what led him to react, he replied "survival".
"I
turned around and I saw he had what looked to be an AK-47 and it looked
like it was jammed or wasn't working and he was trying to charge the
weapon.
"Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said 'let's go' and ran down, tackled him. We hit the ground."
Friday's
incident began when a French passenger tried to enter a toilet,
encountered the gunman and tried to overpower him. It is thought this
passenger may have since requested anonymity.
A gun was fired and a French-American passenger was injured by the bullet. Mr Stone said he saw blood squirting out of his neck.
"I
just stuck two of my fingers in the hole, found what I thought to be
the artery, pushed down and the bleeding stopped," he said. "I just said
'thank God' and held that position until the paramedics got there."
Mr
Skarlatos also said his initial reaction was "mostly just gut
instinct", and that military training had only played a role in
providing medical help and making sure there were no accomplices.
Media captionFootage shows the gunman on the floor of the train carriage after he was subdued by passengers
Mr Skarlatos said the gunman had a lot of ammunition and "his intentions were pretty clear", but that he appeared untrained.
"He clearly had no firearms training whatsoever."
"If
he knew what he was doing, or even just got lucky... we would have all
been in trouble and probably wouldn't be here today - along with a lot
of other people."
Mr Stone said Friday's events had still not sunk in. "It feels very unreal. It feels like a dream."
French
President Francois Hollande is due to present the three Americans, and
Briton Chris Norman, with the Legion d'Honneur on Monday, in recognition
of their bravery. Mr Norman also helped restrain the gunman.
Security
aboard the high-speed Thalys service on which the incident took place
is being stepped up. The trains link major cities in the Netherlands and
Belgium to Paris.
Patrols and security checks will also be boosted at international train stations, and more baggage checks will be carried out.
France's
security services have placed been on high alert since January when
Islamist militants killed 17 people in and around Paris - including the
attacks at the offices of satirical paper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish
supermarket.
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