The man was then shot dead by soldiers who were patrolling inside the Saint Charles railway station.
The victims were reportedly aged 17 and 20. One had her throat cut while the other was stabbed in the stomach, it is believed.The scene has been sealed off and police have asked people to avoid the area.France’s interior minister, Gerard Collomb, was travelling to the location following the attack at 11.45am (GMT) on Sunday.A witness said she saw a man take out a knife from his sleeve and then stab a young girl and then a second woman before shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest).. . . . Reports said the attacker was in his 20s and of North African appearance.
The French military has been patrolling key areas throughout France as part of “Operation Sentinel.” One witness was impressed by the speed with which they responded to the terror attack.
Sky News continues:
The atrocity comes as France is still on high alert following a string of terror attacks since January 2015, when jihadist gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12.The government has since launched Operation Sentinelle, deploying about 7,000 troops across the country to guard high-risk areas such as transport hubs, tourist sites and religious buildings.. . . . Pierre-Jean, who was in a shop with his family next to where the attack happened, described a scene of “total panic” before security forces arrived.He said: “We were taken out (of the shop) but the police, I was surprised, intervened very, very quickly, a first team then security forces arrived regularly after that and in numbers. At that point we felt safe.”
Watch the news alert:
According to Reuters, three police sources said the suspect had shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) as he carried out his attack at Marseille’s main railway station.The attack was described as “frenzied” by an unofficial police source.. . . . Some 200 police officers had cordoned off the area and all roads were closed to traffic, with security forces saying the operation was still ongoing on Sunday afternoon.
The French prosecutor has confirmed the attack, and both deaths, at the Saint Charles station as he makes his way to the area.Police have described it as an “ongoing” incident and asked people to avoid the area which has now been evacuated.Samia Ghali, lawmaker for the Marseille region, told France Bleu Province radio: “If the military had not been there, we would have had a lot more deaths.”
Two terror attacks occurred in Edmonton, one involving a car attack followed by a knife attack, and the other involving a U-Haul truck attack.
Last night, a terrorist crashed into barricades and struck an Edmonton police officer; the terrorist then exited his vehicle and stabbed the officer before making his escape on foot. An ISIS flag was found in his abandoned vehicle. The officer is expected to survive this terror attack.
In the second terror attack in Edmonton, the man who owned the car abandoned after the first attack was found driving a U-Haul truck. As police chased him, he attempted to mow down pedestrians before his truck flipped over, and he was arrested by Edmonton police.
Canadian police said early Sunday that an attack on an officer outside a football game with a car and knife and a high-speed chase of a U-Haul that left four people injured in the western city of Edmonton, Alberta, are being investigated as acts of terrorism.Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said that officers have one person in custody and they think he acted alone. Knecht said an Islamic State group flag was found in the car that hit the officer.The attack began outside a Canadian Football League game outside Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday night when police say a white Chevrolet Malibu rammed a traffic control barricade and sent an officer flying into the air 15 feet.Knecht said the driver, believed to be 30 years old, then got out and attacked the officer with a knife before fleeing on foot.The officer was taken to a hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries while a manhunt was launched. “It’s not critical,” Knecht said of the injuries.A few hours later, a U-Haul van was stopped at an impaired driving check stop north of downtown on Wayne Gretzky Drive. Knecht said the name of the driver was close to the name of the registered owner of the car that hit the officer.He said the U-Haul then sped off toward downtown with police in pursuit.Police say the U-Haul intentionally swerved at pedestrians at crosswalks throughout the chase. Four people were injured by the van, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
Watch Edmonton police chief give a press briefing: