Man shouts ‘Allahu Akbar,’ kills two at French train station
MARSEILLE (Reuters) – French soldiers shot and killed a man on Sunday after he stabbed two women to death at Marseille’s main train station, the French interior ministry said, in what police sources called a “likely terrorist act.”
Three police sources said the suspect had shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) as he carried out the attack. No further details were immediately available.
Police cordoned off the area and told people to stay away.
A witness told Reuters she saw a man take out a knife from his sleeve and stab a young girl and another 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 SaintCharles station.
“After the attack carried out next to Marseille SaintCharles, I am immediately going to the site of the attack,” French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on Twitter.
France has been in a state of emergency following a spate of attacks by Islamic terrorists over the last two years, including attacks in Paris in November 2015 which killed 130 people.
Last year, a gunman drove a heavy truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 people and injuring scores more.