Train attack hero: ‘It was do something or die’

The trio of Americans who foiled an attempted terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris said on Sunday they had no choice but to fight for their lives.

{mosads}“At that time, it was either do something or die,” said Anthony Sadler, a California college student, from the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Paris.

“I’m still waiting to wake up,” he said. “It’s like a movie scene or something.”

“I was thinking about survival,” said Spencer Stone, who serves in the Air Force. “It was to survive and for everybody else on the train to make it.”

“He seemed like he was ready to fight until the end,” Stone added of Ayoub El Khazzani, 26, the alleged attacker. “So were we.”

“His intentions were very clear,” said Alek Skarlatos, a National Guardsman. “The guy had a lot of ammo. In the beginning it was gut instinct, survival.”

Khazzani allegedly opened fire onboard a train heading from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday before being subdued by Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone.

Three passengers were injured in the incident, sustaining knife or gunshot wounds, none of them life-threatening.

Stone had his neck and thumb caught when he and his two close friends rushed the attacker and prevented further bloodshed.

“Other than my finger, I didn’t really feel any of my other injuries,” he said on Sunday. “I trust my friends very much. If it wasn’t for them, I’d be dead.”

“He clearly had no firearms training whatsoever,” Skarlatos said of the suspect. “I have no idea where he was aiming.”

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Saturday that the accused assailant wielded a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Luger automatic pistol and a box cutter during the attack.

Sadler argued on Sunday that the international community must remain both vigilant and brave in the face of similar extremism.

“Please do something,” he said. “Don’t just stand there and watch.”

“I want this lesson to be learned,” Sadler added. “Hiding or sitting back is not going to accomplish anything.”

Khazzani, a Moroccan, is suspected of having ties with international terrorist groups.

Stone, Sadler and Skarlatos were traveling across Europe in celebration of Skarlatos’s recent return from military service in Afghanistan.

—This report was updated at 12:56 p.m.