France Train Shooting: President thanks 'heroes' who overpowered gunman

French President Francois Hollande has thanked three American men hailed as heroes for overpowering a heavily-armed gunman on a train in northern France.

The incident happened on the high-speed Thalys service near Arras. A 26-year-old Moroccan man was arrested.

One of the Americans said they took an AK-47 assault rifle and a handgun from the attacker as they saw him walk down the aisle of the train.

They then put him in a chokehold until he was unconscious.

France's Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said Mr Hollande thanked the men by telephone and will meet them in the coming days.

Two of the American men who overpowered the gunman, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos, are members of the Air Force and the National Guard respectively.

They were travelling on the train from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday evening with a childhood friend, Anthony Sadler, who also helped restrain the attacker.

"Spencer got to the guy first and grabbed the guy by the neck," Mr Skarlatos told Sky News.

Anthony Sadler's father Tony says he is "still wrapping his head around" events of the past 24 hours

"I grabbed the handgun, got that away from the guy and threw it. Then I grabbed the AK-47, which was at his feet, and started muzzle-bumping him in the head with it.

"Everybody just started beating the guy while Spencer held the chokehold until he went unconscious."

When he checked the AK-47, Mr Skarlotos said it had jammed and would not have been able to fire. The cartridge for the handgun had also been dropped, he said.

French authorities said three people were injured, two of them seriously - one with a gunshot wound, the other a knife wound.

Chris Norman, a British man living in France, was also hurt while trying to subdue the attacker.

"I came in at the end of it all and helped get him under control," he said at a news conference in Arras.

"The guy pulled out a cutter and started cutting Spencer - he cut behind his neck and nearly cut his thumb off."

Another man, who has not been identified, suffered severe cuts to his neck. Spencer Stone went to help him despite his own injuries. Mr Stone remains in hospital.

"I'm really proud of my friend that he just reacted so quickly and so bravely," Anthony Sadler said.

"He was really the first one over there. Even after being injured himself, he went to go help the other man who was bleeding also. Without his help, he would have died.

"That man was bleeding from his neck profusely."

The American men and Mr Norman were awarded medals for bravery by authorities in Arras.

In a statement, British Prime Minister David Cameron praised the "extraordinary courage of the passengers who intervened and helped disarm the gunman, including the British consultant Chris Norman.

"The bravery of Mr Norman and the other passengers helped to prevent a terrible incident."

US President Barack Obama was among those to praise those who took action.

"It is clear that their heroic actions may have prevented a far worse tragedy," the White House said in a statement.

Mr Cazeneuve said the man lived in Spain until 2014, and in Belgium this year. Spanish intelligence passed on information about the suspect to France in February 2014, he said.

The suspect is believed to have radical Islamist beliefs, Mr Cazeneuve said. Anti-terror investigators in Paris. now have 76 hours to question the suspect.

Belgian prosecutors also opened an anti-terror investigation on Saturday morning.

Images shared on social media appeared to show the suspect being restrained on the station platform in Arras.

France has been on edge since the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January, which left 17 people dead.

And in June a man said to be inspired by the Islamic State group beheaded his boss and tried to blow up a gas plant in southern France.

BBC report.