At least two people have been killed in a knife attack at the city St Charles train station in Marseille, France
France’s national police tweeted that the situation at the station has been resolved, and the perpetrator “neutralised and shot down”.
Police sources said the suspect attacked the women, aged 17 and 20, at Marseille’s main railway station. Two police sources said one had her throat slit while the other was stabbed in the chest and stomach.
The assailant was shot dead by a soldier from a military Sentinelle patrol, a force deployed across the country as part of a state of emergency declared after Islamist attacks that began almost two years ago.
“We have until now managed to avoid such dramatic incidents [in Marseille]. I think it was a terrorist attack and the individual who was killed seems to have had several identities,” Marseille mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin told reporters.
Train traffic had earlier been stopped with police asking people to avoid the area.
An unnamed official said the assailant had cried “Allahu akbar”.
