Two people killed in Marseille train station attack
A SUSPECTED Islamist knifeman killed at least two people at the main train station in the French Mediterranean port city of Marseille yesterday before being shot and killed by soldiers patrolling there, local officials and police said.
“Two victims have been stabbed to death,” Police Chief Olivier de Mazieres said, referring to the attack which occurred at 1:45pm.
Local Prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux said the knifeman had been killed by soldiers, while the Marseille police urged people in the city to avoid the area around Saint-Charles station in the bustling centre of the city.
The knifeman is believed to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) before assaulting passers-by, a source close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity.
The deaths came with France still on high alert following a string of terror attacks.
The government has since launched Operation Sentinelle, deploying about 7,000 troops across the country to guard high-risk areas such as trans- port hubs, tourist sites and religious buildings.
After a rampage by Islamic State gunmen through Paris in November 2015, François Hollande, president at the time, declared a state of emergency which remains in place, giving security forces greater powers to use force and launch antiterror raids.
Hollande’s successor, Emmanuel Macron, has vowed to end the state of emergency with a new and controversial security law that will make many of the provisions of the state of emergency permanent.
Despite criticism from rights groups, the lower house of parliament is set to vote on a first draft of the law on Tuesday.
The incident in Marseille came only days after the Islamic State group released a recording of what it said was its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urging his followers to strike their enemies in the West.
France has deployed troops and its air force to the Middle East and is a leading partner in the US-led international coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, where the jihadists are being driven back.