Terror not suspected in acid attack on 4 U.S. students

PARIS — Four American college students were attacked with acid Sunday at a train station in the city of Marseille, but French authorities so far do not think extremist views motivated the 41-year-old woman who was arrested as the alleged assailant, the local prosecutor’s office said.

Boston College, a private Jesuit university in Massachusetts, said in a statement that the four female students were treated for burns at a Marseille hospital after they were sprayed in the face with acid on Sunday morning. The statement said the four were all juniors studying abroad, three of them at the college’s Paris program.

“It appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns,” Nick Gozik, who directs Boston College’s Office of International Programs.

Police in France described the suspect as “disturbed” and said the attack was not thought at this point to be terror-related, according the university’s statement.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said earlier Sunday that its counterterrorism division had decided for the time being not to assume jurisdiction for investigating the attack.

A spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press that the suspect did not make any extremist threats or declarations during the attack at the city’s Saint Charles train station.

The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity, as is the custom of the French judicial system. She said all four of the victims were in their 20s and treated at a hospital, two of them for shock. The suspect was taken into police custody.

Boston College identified the students as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Kosten.

Two of the Americans were “slightly injured” with acid but did not require emergency medical treatment from medics at the scene, the spokeswoman said. She requested anonymity in keeping with fire department protocol, a department spokeswoman said.

Regional newspaper La Provence, quoting unidentified police officials, reported that the suspect had a history of mental health problems and noted that she remained at the site of the attack without trying to flee.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Paris said the U.S. Consulate in Marseille was in contact with French authorities.