Marseille suspect had been released by police just prior to attack: source

[October 02, 2017]    PARIS (Reuters) - 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.

French police and soldier secure a street near the Saint-Charles train station after French soldiers shot and killed a man who stabbed two women to death at the main train station in Marseille, France, October 1, 2017. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

The source said the suspect - who went by eight different identities or aliases - was stopped by police in Lyon on Sept. 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".

(Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry; Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by John Irish and Robin Pomeroy)

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