MARSEILLE KNIFE TERROR
Attacker yells ‘Allahu Akbar’ and kills two women
TWO women were murdered in a ‘frenzied’ attack by a suspected terrorist with a butcher’s knife at a French train station yesterday.
The unnamed man shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ – ‘God is great’ in Arabic – as he slit one woman’s throat and stabbed the other before being shot dead by soldiers in Marseille.
His victims – aged 17 and 20 – received horrific injuries in the attack just before 2pm local time, police said.
The suspect, who is thought to be in his twenties, is said to be known to police in the southeastern city, and appears to have had several identities.
A police source said: ‘The man first shouted threats, and then launched into the women.
‘The two were killed by a knife, and then soldiers on anti-terrorism duties intervened. They shot the man dead.
‘At least one large butcher’s knife was used by the attacker.’
Interior minister Gérard Collomb said police had a video of the attack showing a man knifing one woman, running away then coming back and murdering a second victim about ten yards away outside Saint Charles station.
The assailant then ran toward soldiers who shot him as they rushed to the scene. Police are interviewing around
‘Outraged by this barbaric act’
ten witnesses. One said she saw the man take out a knife from his sleeve and stab a young girl and then a second woman at the station before troops killed him.
The soldiers were from a Sentinelle patrol, the force deployed across France as part of a state of emergency declared after Islamist attacks carried out there almost two years ago.
Hundreds of panicking rail passengers fled as the shots rang out. A witness called Hajar said: ‘I heard two shots, that was what triggered the panic.
‘People came out of a waiting room shouting, “Run! Don’t stay in the station. Everybody outside”. I had just got to the station when everyone started running. People sitting on the terrace of a restaurant came inside and shouted: “Run, get out!”. Then I saw a woman on the floor, they were giving her CPR.’
Pictures showed a woman lying on the ground and armed police standing over the dead attacker. A white sheet was later placed over him.
President Emmanuel Macron praised the reaction of the security services, tweeting: ‘Deeply outraged by this barbaric act, in pain with the families and relatives of the victims of Marseille.’
A police source said that digital analysis of the suspect’s fingerprints on a police database had come up with several aliases. Marseille mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin said: ‘I think it was a terrorist attack.’ But Mr Collomb remained cautious, warning: ‘This could be of a terrorist nature, but we cannot confirm it fully at this stage.’
Within half an hour of the attack, the station and the surrounding neighbourhoods were in lockdown, with police warning people to stay away. Regional president Renaud Muselier said: ‘We have generally avoided these sort of attacks in Marseille.
‘The security services responded extremely quickly. It’s difficult to do more because when you see the distance between the two bodies and the attacker it’s only ten metres, so they intervened quickly.’ The Paris prosecutors’ office confirmed that a counterterrorism investigation had been opened, but no motive for the attack was known.
France has been in a state of emergency following a spate of attacks by Islamist militants over the past two years.
Elsewhere, a suspected terrorist stabbed a police officer and struck four pedestrians with a van during a police chase in Canada.
The carnage began when the 30year-old unnamed suspect drove through a police barricade outside a football game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday night.
He sent one officer flying 15ft before stabbing him, leaving him with non life-threatening injuries.
As the attacker fled on foot and, as a manhunt began, officers found an IS flag in his car.
Hours later, the attacker sped off in a rental van when he was stopped at a checkpoint.
During a high-speed chase through Edmonton, he chased pedestrians in the van. The chase ended when it flipped on its side.