RTTue, 03 Oct 2017 19:24 UTC
© Paul-Louis Leger / Agence France-PresseFrench police point a gun at a man on the ground while soldiers secure the area following an attack on October 1, 2017 at the Saint-Charles main train station in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille.
The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the Marseille knife attack which left two women dead, Reuters reports, citing the IS affiliated Amaq news agency.
The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly knife attack which left two women dead at a train station in Marseille Sunday. The message, via its propaganda channel, allegedly says the attack was staged in retaliation against the US-led Coalition countries which are fighting against the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.
The victims of Sunday's attack, aged 17 and 20, suffered horrific injuries during the assault. One had her throat slit while the other was stabbed in her stomach.
The assailant was shot dead by French soldiers patrolling the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille. Aged between 25 and 30, the attacker was reportedly known to police for common criminal offenses. However, there's still no confirmation of his identity.
Comment: Update: Suspect in knife attack had been previously
arrested two days before in Lyon.
The main suspect in a Marseille attack in which two women were stabbed to death had been arrested and let go in Lyon two days before the assault at the train station, authorities said. His details turned out to be tied to seven IDs in criminal databases.
Last Friday, the man was detained in Lyon on suspicions of shoplifting, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said at a press conference Monday. He was nabbed at Lyon Part-Dieu shopping center after being accused of stealing a jacket, but was released the following day due to insufficient evidence.
In Lyon, the man showed a Tunisian passport issued in the name of 'Ahmed H.', born in 1987, according to Molins. During the arrest the suspect claimed he was divorced, unemployed and didn't have a permanent place to stay in Lyon.
Molins added the suspect was reported to the authorities seven times since 2005 under seven different identities that were added to criminal databases, but he wasn't known to anti-terrorist services.
Earlier, a source contributing to the police investigation told Reuters the man had eight aliases: "Each time he was stopped, he presented a different identity paper. That's why it's so difficult. At one moment, he says he was born in France, at another he says he was born in Algeria."
The investigation is currently underway to ensure the authenticity of the ID submitted in Lyon, which the Marseille suspected attacker didn't have on him at the time of the attack.
Comment:
Update: Suspect in knife attack had been previously arrested two days before in Lyon.