A FORMER US soldier who foiled an attempted terror attack on an Amsterdam-Paris train five years ago has been hospitalised ahead of his scheduled appearance at a trial into the case in the French capital.

Spencer Stone (28) was hospitalised as he arrived in Paris yesterday as he felt unwell, his lawyer Thibault de Montbrial said, without giving any details.

Montbrial said Stone was still in hospital and it was not immediately clear if he would attend a court hearing due at 4pm (3pm Irish time) today.

Gunman Ayoub El Khazzani was tackled by passengers shortly after emerging bare-chested and heavily armed from a toilet on a Thalys high-speed train on 21 August 2015.

There were some 150 passengers in the carriage with Khazzani, who had an AK47 slung over his back, and a bag of nearly 300 rounds of ammunition.

One of them, Franco-American professor Mark Moogalian, grabbed Khazzani’s assault rifle as he emerged.

The attacker took a pistol out of his belt, shot and wounded Moogalian, only to be tackled afresh and disarmed by two US soldiers – Stone and Alek Skarlatos – who heard the commotion from a neighbouring carriage.

The soldiers were aided by their friend Anthony Sadler, with whom they were backpacking through Europe.

Director Clint Eastwood (90) was originally listed as a potential witness for the trial in Paris, scheduled to last until 17 December. It is believed his 2018 film The 15:17 to Paris will serve as a reconstruction of the events.

© – AFP, 2020