Man shouting “Allahu Akbar” kills two at French train station
Man Shouting What Could Have Been “Allahu Akbar”, And Kills Two At French Train Station Before Being Shot Dead
Two women were stabbed to death and their assailant shot dead by soldiers in the southern French port city of Marseille on Sunday in what police sources described as a “likely terrorist act”.
Three police sources said the suspect had shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) as he carried out his attack at Marseille’s main railway station.
The two victims – one aged 17 and the other 20 – suffered gory injuries, two police sources said, saying one had her throat slit while the other was stabbed in the stomach.
“If the military had not been there, we would have had a lot more deaths,” Samia Ghali, lawmaker for the Marseille region, told France Bleu Province radio.
Some 200 police officers had cordoned off the area and all roads were closed to traffic, with security forces saying the operation was still ongoing.
The Paris prosecutor opened a counter-terrorism probe.
France has been in a state of emergency following a spate of attacks by Islamist militants over the last two years, including attacks in Paris in November 2015 which killed 130 people. Other countries, including Britain, Germany and Belgium, have also suffered attacks using knives, guns, explosives and vehicles.
A witness told Reuters she saw a man take out a knife from his sleeve and then stab a young girl and then a second woman, shouting what could have been “Allahu Akbar”.
She added that she saw soldiers from France’s Sentinelle force who were patrolling in the area arrive on the public square at the Gare Saint-Charles station.