A terrorist stabbed two women to death at the Marseille train station late Sunday afternoon, shouting “Allahu Akbar!” (God is Great!, the jihadist war cry in Arabic), according to a witness and three police sources quoted by CNBC and Reuters.
One woman’s throat was cut; the other was stabbed in the stomach.
The terrorist was shot and reportedly killed by police forces, according to Marseille authorities quoted by the British Express news site.
Soldiers from the French Sentinelle force were patrolling in the area at the time of the attack, according to a woman who spoke with Reuters.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the attack was carried out next to Marseille Saint-Charles. The nation’s counter terrorism prosecutor opened a probe into the attack, according to multiple reports. No further details were made available.
The country has been in a state of emergency since the November 2015 terror attacks in which 130 people were slaughtered. In 2016, France was struck by no fewer than five terrorist attacks, including a massacre by the Islamic State terrorist group, who attacked the city of Nice on July 14, 2016, murdering 84 celebrants who were out enjoying the fine weather on the country’s national holiday of Bastille Day. This year alone there were six attacks, including an assault by a man wielding a machete at the Louvre in Paris.
It is not yet known if any Israelis or Jews were in the area at the time of the attack.