Marseille knife attack

This item appears on page 21 of the November 2017 issue.

In Marseille, southern France, two women were killed on Sept. 30 when a man armed with a knife attacked them at the Marseille-Saint-Charles train station. After the first killing, the attacker fled the scene only to return later to stab the second woman. The attacker was then shot and killed by security forces. 

Police described the attacker as a “known petty criminal” but had not identified him as of press time. Reports indicate that he had been detained by police the day before the attack on suspicion of shoplifting but had been released. Daesh claimed that the attacker was one of their “soldiers.”