1st LD Writethru: Identity of France train assailant not confirmed yet: interior minister

Investigation to identify the shooter at a Thalys train linking Amsterdam and Paris, who injured three passengers, was underway, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Saturday.

"It is advisable to remain cautious about (the gunman's) identity which is not confirmed yet. If confirmed, it would correspond to a 26-year-old Moroccan man known to the intelligence services," Cazeneuve added.

The suspect, who was arrested when the train stopped at the northern French town of Arras, had been under French police surveillance after Spanish security services identified him as radical Islamist.

Three passengers were wounded in the shooting, including an American soldier and a Franco-American traveller. They were not in a serious situation, the minister added.

Cazeneuve said a French passenger tried to neutralize the assailant while he was loading his weapon in a toilet cubicle before being overpowered by American soldiers who were making their first travel in Europe.

French President Francois Hollande will receive, later in the day, the three passengers to pay tribute to their courage which helped avoid "a terrible tragedy."

According to news channel BFMTV, the shooter denied allegation of a terrorist attack, saying he attempted an armed robbery and wanting to hold passengers to ransoms.

Giving his name as Ayoub, the assailant was armed with a Kalashnikov, an automatic pistol and a box cutter which he said had found by chance in a Brussels park.

Squeezing by anti-terrorism police, he was placed under custody which could last 96 hours. Endit