Knife suspect was freed

A MAN who fatally stabbed two women outside Marseille’s main train station had been detained for shoplifting and released the day before the attack, and used seven fake identities in previous encounters with police, officials said Monday.

French authorities are studying the suspect’s cellphone and working to determine his true identity and whether he had direct links to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for Sunday’s stabbing. The assailant was killed by soldiers immediately after the attack. The suspect was identified by his fingerprints, which matched those taken during seven previous incidents registered by police since 2005, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins, (pictured), told reporters.

The man’s most recent arrest occurred in the Lyon area Friday.

The man was held overnight for shoplifting, then released Saturday and the charges dropped, Mr Molins said.

Video surveillance of the train station showed the man sitting for a few minutes on a bench, before jumping up and stabbing one woman several times. He then ran away and returned to attack the second woman. The man then tried to attack soldiers patrolling the site, but they shot him dead.