Three people have been injured after shots were fired on a high-speed train in Europe.
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Two of the victims were seriously injured and at least one suffered gunshot wounds, said a spokesman for SNCF.
“The motives behind the attack are still unknown”, Brandet said in a televised statement.
It is believed the soldiers heard the gunman loading his weapons in the train’s toilet and confronted him when he left the cubicle.
He was armed with an automatic rifle and a knife, according to Christophe Piednoel, a spokesman for national railway operator SNCF.
In an apparent terrorist incident that unfolded on a high-speed train between Paris and Amsterdam, some unarmed U.S. Marines jumped into action and were able to thwart a suspected terrorist attack that could’ve killed and wounded hundreds. Agence France-Presse reports that the man had several weapons including guns and razor blades in his luggage and was armed with a Kalashnikov.
But a French police official said later that one man was American and the other British.
Thalys said in a tweet that travellers were safe and the situation was under control.
“It will be up to the prosecutor and terrorism prosecutor to speak about the details of the attack…”
He was reportedly hurt breaking the glass to activate the train’s alarm.
Hollande’s office had said that three people were injured in the attack. The second was around 30 and had a bandage on his shoulder.
Mr. Hollande is in contact with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, with whom the French president promised to cooperate closely.
France’s interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve was en route to Arras. Without them we would have faced a awful drama’.
He said the two unnamed Americans were “particularly courageous and showed extreme bravery in extremely hard circumstances”.
The motives behind the attack were not immediately known, but French anti-terrorist police took over the investigation. Passengers were evacuated and police have secured the area. “They looked totally shocked”.
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Before attacking the factory near Lyon, Mr Salhi used his mobile phone to take an image of himself with the severed head.
