Train heroes explain how they took down gunman

The train passengers who tackled a Kalashnikov wielding attacker on a busy train have said they were ready to fight to the death to stop him killing innocent people.

Spencer Stone, one of three American travellers, A Brit and a Frenchman to take on the gunman on the Paris to Amsterdam train told a press conference that “it seemed like the terrorist was ready to fight until the end but so were we”.

Mr Stone described how he had been woken from a nap when the gunman began his attack.

He said: “I woke up from a deep sleep and I turned around and he had an AK-47. We tackled him and hit the ground. I put him in a chokehold.

He added: “He took out a box cutter – all three of us started punching him and grabbed him again and put him unconscious whole Alek was hitting him.”

His friend, Anthony Sadler, who was also on the train and helped tackle the gunman urged people not to “stand by and watch” if they see terror in action.

He told reporters: “In times of terror like that, please do something. Don’t just stand by and watch.

He added: “In times of crisis like that I would want it to be learnt to do something, that sitting back is not going to accomplish anything and the gunman would have been successful if my friend Spencer had not got up.”

It has since emerged that the man who boarded the high speed train with an assault rifle was known to intelligence services.

Despite being on the radar in France, Spain and Belgium, he boarded an Amsterdam-to-Paris train on Friday as it stopped in Brussels, carrying a small arsenal of weapons, including a Kalashnikov, an automatic Luger pistol and a box cutter.

A French man and three American friends, two of them U.S. servicemen, tackled him, and with the help of a British businessman tied him up.