PARIS: French officials say a man who fatally stabbed two women at Marseille’s main train station had been arrested and released the day before the attack.
The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, the latest of several targeting France.
Two police officials said Monday the man didn’t have French residency papers and was detained for suspected shoplifting in the Lyon region Saturday before being released.
The officials said he wasn’t on France’s extremist watch list.
The suspect, killed by police after Sunday’s attack, was identified by his fingerprints. French media reports said he used multiple identity papers.
The victims were cousins between 17 and 21 years old, according to three police and judicial officials who weren’t authorised to be publicly named discussing an ongoing investigation.
