A French soldier shot dead a knife-wielding man after he stabbed and killed two women at Marseille-Saint Charles’s train station in southern France on Sunday, in what has been termed a terror attack.
A knife-wielding jihadist was shot dead by a soldier already on patrol in the area. Credit: AP
According to local Police reports, the man who shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) slit open one woman’s throat and stabbed another to death with a butcher’s knife before he was shot and killed by French soldiers who were already patrolling the station as part of Operation Sentinelle – whereby members of the French army patrol key sites and streets in an ongoing state of emergency.
A French Police stands on guard outside Saint Charles train station in Marseille on Sunday, 1 October 2017. Credit: Bertrand Langlois/AFP
The two female victims aged 17 and 20 reportedly are said to have suffered horrific wounds during the frenzied attack with one victims stabbed in the stomach and throat while the other had her throat slit open.
The French Army and Police later swarmed the area on Sunday the afternoon.
The body of the attacker on the ground after being shot dead by a French soldier on Sunday, 1 October 2017, Marseille, France. Credit: AP
The attacker said to be aged between 25-30 was a man of North African origin known to local officials for common law crimes who used different aliases.
French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said on Twitter that he immediately went to the scene of the attack after it happened.
The assailant’s body lying on the ground where he was shot and killed by a soldier on patrol in the area. Credit: AP
The incident is being treated as a “terrorist act” with anti-terror officials saying they are investigating “links to a terrorist organisation” and the “attempted killing of a public official” – the identity of which has not been revealed to the public.
France’s national train operator, SNCF has asked people to postpone their planed journeys by train suggesting they use an alternative.
France has been in a state of emergency following recent terrorist attacks by Islamist militants over the last two years as listed below.
Timeline of Recent Terror Attacks in France
1 October 2017: A knife-wielding man of North African origin thought to be aged between 25-35 was shot and skilled by French soldiers after he stabbed two women to death after he slit open the throat of one and stabbed the other at Marseille’s main train station on Sunday.
20 April 2017: A known terror suspect opened fire a Police on the Champs Elysées in Paris leaving 1 dead and 2 injured.
3 Feb 2017: A machete-wielding Egyptian man shouting “Allahu akbar” attacked French soldiers at Louvre Museum in Paris. He was shot and wounded.
26 July 2016: An 84-year old Catholic priest who giving Mass at his Church in in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray had his throat slit and killed by two attackers who slit his throat as the other captured the gruesome act of terror on video. They were both shot and killed by Police.
14 July 2016: A Tunisian-born gunman drove a heavy truck into a crown celebrating Bastille Day in Nice killing 86 and injuring scores. He was later shot dead by Police.
13 June 2016: A knife-wielding jihadist who declared allegiance to ISIS killed a Police Officer and his partner at their home in Magnanville, in the west of Paris. He was later shot dead by Police.
13 November 2015: Coordinated attacks by ISIS jihadists armed with assault rifles and bombs target the national stadium, Bataclan Concert Hall and cafes in Paris leaving 350 people wounded and 130 dead.
7-9 January 2015: Two Islamist gunmen storm the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices in Paris where they killed 17 people. Another Islamist militant killed a Policewoman the next day and takes hostages at a Jewish supermarket in Paris. Four hostages were skilled before Police finally shot dead the gunman while two other gunmen were killed by Police in a siege after being cornered.
December 2014: A man shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) injured 13 people after he rammed a vehicle into a crown in Dijon, in the eastern France prompting the French Prime Minister to day France has “never before faced such a high threat linked to terrorism.”
March 2012: An al-Qaeda inspired gunman, Mohamed Merah, killed 7 people in three separate shootings in Toulouse among them – 3 soldiers of North African origin, 2 young children and a rabbi.
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