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The 554 passengers included French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, the star of Betty Blue and Nikita, who was lightly wounded breaking glass to sound the alarm.

In an interview with Paris Match magazine, Mr Anglade said train staff had entered a private cabin and locked it when they heard gunshots, leaving the passengers alone.

"I thought it was the end, that we were going to die, that he was going to kill us all," he said.

However Agnes Ogier, the boss of Thalys, denied Mr Anglade's allegations, saying train staff had "fulfilled their duties".

One member of staff found himself under fire and took five or six passengers with him into the baggage car, where he sounded the alarm, she said.

French President Francois Hollande telephoned Mr Obama on Saturday to thank him for the "exemplary conduct" shown by the three US citizens.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also praised their "extraordinary courage".

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

Anti-terror investigators in Paris now have 96 hours to question the suspect.

The suspect boarded the Thalys train in Brussels, and Belgian prosecutors also opened an anti-terror investigation on Saturday morning.

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.

ARRAS, France (AP) — One serves in the Air Force, another recently served in Afghanistan in the National Guard, another is studying physical therapy in California — and all three Americans are being hailed as heroes for tackling and disarming a gunman they happened to encounter on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris.

Air Force serviceman Spencer Stone remained hospitalized Saturday after being stabbed in the attack Friday night as the train traveled through Belgium, though the Pentagon said the injury was not life-threatening. A dual French-American citizen was also wounded as he was hit by chance by a gunshot on the train, which eventually stopped in Arras in northern France, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

Cazeneuve, speaking to reporters in Paris on Saturday, said that the suspect may be a 26-year-old Moroccan flagged by Spanish authorities last year for links to Islamic radical movements, but the identity has not been 100 percent confirmed.

An official linked to Spain’s anti-terrorism unit said the suspect lived in Spain until 2014, then moved to France, traveled to Syria, and then returned to France. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be identified by name.

French authorities are questioning the attacker and are expected to speak to at least one of the Americans on Saturday about what happened. Counterterrorism police are leading the investigation, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office has also opened an investigation into the incident on the grounds that the suspect had boarded the train in Brussels, said spokesman Eric Van derSypt. He said Belgian authorities are assisting the investigation, which is led by France.

Cazeneuve said the violence began when a French passenger ran into the he

Attempted mass shooting on a train

On 21 August 2015, a man opened fire on a Thalys train on its way from Amsterdam to Paris. Four people were injured, including the assailant. French, American and British passengers confronted the attacker and subdued him. For their heroism, they received France's highest decoration, the Legion of Honour. The assailant, later identified as Ayoub El Khazzani, initially claimed to be only a robber, but later confessed that he had wanted to "kill Americans" as revenge for bombings in Syria.

Attack

Thalys passenger train 9364 from Amsterdam to Paris crossed the Belgian border to France at approximately 17:45 CEST on 21 August 2015. A 25-year-old Moroccan man named Ayoub El Khazzani emerged from the lavatory room of car No. 12. He was shirtless and brandishing a Draco carbine. In addition to the folding-stock carbine with a 30-round magazine, he was wearing a knapsack containing eight more loaded magazines, a 9mm Luger pistol, a utility knife, and a bottle of gasoline.

As El Khazzani exited the lavatory, he encountered 28-year-old Frenchman "Damien A." On seeing the shirtless and heavily armed Moroccan, Damien attempted to restrain the gunman, but was overpowered and fell to the floor. Seated nearby, American-born Frenchman Mark Moogalian (age 51) saw the scuffle, got up, and in the ensuing struggle wrested the rifle from El Khazzani. As Moogalian turned to move his wife out of harm's way, El Khazzani pulled out a concealed 9mm Luger pistol and shot Moogalian in the back, with the bullet passing through his lung and exiting via his neck. Moogalian fell to the floor and rema

The 554 passengers included French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, the star of Betty Blue and Nikita, who was lightly wounded breaking glass to sound the alarm.

In an interview with Paris Match magazine, external, Mr Anglade said train staff entered a private cabin and locked it when they heard gunshots, leaving the passengers alone.

"I thought it was the end, that we were going to die, that he was going to kill us all," he said.

"I really could see us all dying because we were all prisoners in that train, it would have been impossible to escape from that nightmare."

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".