| Police, soldiers, victim and assailant are seen on the site of the attack at Saint-Charles station in Marseille, France October 1, 2017 in this picture obtained from social media |
The man suspected of carrying out Sunday’s attack in the French city of Marseille, killing two people, had been arrested and then released by police two days before the incident, a source close to the police investigation said.
The source said the suspect – who went by eight different identities or aliases – was stopped by police in Lyon on September 29 on suspicion of robbery. He was then released for a lack of evidence.
The suspect’s identity remained unclear, the source added.
“The murderer had eight different aliases. Each time he was stopped, he presented a different identity paper. That’s why it’s so difficult. At one moment, he says he was born in France, at another he says he was born in Algeria,” the source said.
A soldier shot the suspect dead after he had stabbed two women to death at Marseille main train station on Sunday, in what officials described as a “likely terrorist act”.