Obama hails ‘heroic’ US troops who overpowered Europe train gunman

President Barack Obama praised the heroic actions of US service members who stopped a gunman aboard a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday.

The gunman injured at least two people on the high-speed train before he was overpowered by two American passengers, French investigators said.

One of the people injured in the attack was a US military member, the Pentagon confirmed, as a preliminary investigation found that two US Marines had overpowered the gunman and stopped a massacre.

“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.

“While the investigation into the attack is in its early stages, it is clear that their heroic actions may have prevented a far worse tragedy.”

CNN reported that the Marines, in civilian clothing, had overpowered an Islamist militant who was loading his Kalashnikov assault rifle, and that the gunman had fired on the Marines with a handgun.

The gunman had a Kalashnikov, an automatic pistol, ammunition and a box cutter in his luggage, one police source told AFP.

“We will remain in close contact with French authorities as the investigation proceeds,” the White House official added.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called the incident a “terrorist attack.”