Knife nut kills two at station
TWO WOMEN BUTCHERED BY JIHADIST
A FANATIC screaming “Allahu Akbar” stabbed and killed two women yesterday in a tourist hotspot.
He slit one victim’s throat and knifed the other in French city Marseille before soldiers shot him dead.
A CRAZED Islamic extremist stabbed two young women to death with a butcher’s knife at a packed railway station yesterday.
Terrified passengers heard the knifeman yell “Allahu Akbar” as he murdered a 17-year-old and a second victim, aged 20, before he was shot dead by soldiers in Marseille.
The killer, who authorities said went by several different identities, slit one woman’s throat and slashed the other in the chest and stomach in the French city.
Investigators are treating it as a terrorist attack, with detectives probing the killer’s links to terror groups such as Islamic State.
Police said the stabbings were “frenzied” and took place in front of huge crowds at Marseille Saint-Charles, the tourist hotspot’s busiest rail station.
The man, described as of North African appearance and in his early 20s, first shouted threats, before launching the horrific onslaught at about 2pm. A police source said the soldiers, who were on antiterrorism duties following terror attacks in France, stepped in when they saw the carnage and shot the man dead.
He said the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is great”.
An insider said: “The attack was frenzied.
“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.”
Hundreds of rail passengers fled in panic amid fears that there might be a deadly stampede.
One witness said: “There was screaming and shouting, and people were running everywhere.
“People were picking up children, and trying to help those who weren’t very good on their feet. They just wanted to get away.”
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that he was “disgusted by this barbaric act” and praised security forces.