Marseille knifeman was ‘known petty criminal’

Paris, Oct 2 (IANS) A knife-wielding man, who stabbed two young women to death at the Saint-Charles train station in the port city of Marseilles in south France, had used several aliases and was a known petty criminal, French police and officials said on Monday.

A soldier shot and killed the attacker after the stabbings on Sunday. The victims were cousins from Lyon, both aged 20, BBC reported. One victim had her throat slit and the other was stabbed in the stomach.

The knifeman had been detained in Lyon on Friday on suspicion of shoplifting, but then released for lack of evidence.

He struck just outside the station. The man was said to be of North African appearance, but his identity remained unclear.

A police source quoted by Le Parisien newspaper said "he had the profile of a petty criminal, and in order to deport him it would be necessary to identify him, and that did not take place".

Witnesses said he shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) during the attack, by a bench outside the southern city's station. The Islamic State said the attacker was one of its "soldiers".

President Emmanuel Macron said he was disgusted by the "barbarous act" and paid tribute to the soldiers and the police officers who responded.

Interior Minister G?rard Collomb told reporters that the attacker had fled after the first murder but returned to kill again.

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