The southern French port city of Marseille has seen another violent, high-profile incident — the third in as many months — with Sunday’s events unfolding at the Saint-Charles train station. There, police say that a knife-wielding assailant entered the station and killed two women before being fatally shot by military police. In addition, authorities are investigating the incident as terrorism and are currently probing any ties that the suspect may have had to terror organizations.
The attacks were gruesome, as the BBC relays. The suspect reportedly slit one woman’s throat before repeatedly stabbing another woman to death. Reuters adds word from witnesses, who say that the suspect shouted, “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) while he carried out the violence.
Details remains scarce as the situation continues to unfold, although French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted that he was en route to the scene.
#Marseille : après l’attaque perpétrée à proximité de la gare Saint Charles, je me rends immédiatement sur les lieux.
— Gérard Collomb (@gerardcollomb) October 1, 2017
Currently, all traffic with the train station has been halted while the area remains secured.
Marseille has seen two other high-profile attacks in recent months. In mid September, an acid attack — also at the Saint-Charles train station — left a group of tourists hospitalized. And in late August, a van killed one person while ramming into multiple bus stops. Neither of these incidents were determined to be terrorism, but authorities are viewing today’s attack through a different lens.