PARIS — A suspected knife attacker was subdued and killed by police in Marseille Sunday after a deadly rampage in the city’s main station.
Three police officials told the Associated Press that one woman was stabbed to death. Two of the officials said the other woman’s throat was slit. The assailant was shot dead by soldiers who were patrolling the station. The officials were speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the operation.
Police in the southern coastal city said they had “neutralized” the assailant and cordoned off the area. A witness told Reuters she heard the assailant shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic) during the attack. Police called this incident a “likely terrorist act.”
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said he was immediately heading to the scene of the attack.
The spokesperson for the Paris Prosecutor’s office confirmed to NBC News their “the anti-terrorist section” had taken over the investigation.
France has been in a state of emergency following a spate of attacks by Islamist militants over the last two years, including attacks in Paris in November 2015 which killed 130 people.
A gunman drove a heavy truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the city of Nice last year, killing 86 people and injuring scores more.
This is a developing story.