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Marseille suspect released from custody day before attack

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A man who fatally stabbed two women outside Marseille's main train station had been detained for shoplifting and released the day before the attack, and used seven fake identities in previous encounters with police, officials said Monday.

 

French authorities are studying the suspect's cellphone and working to determine his true identity and whether he had direct links to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for Sunday's stabbing. The assailant was killed by soldiers immediately after the attack, the latest of several targeting France.

 

The suspect was identified by his fingerprints, which matched those taken during seven previous incidents registered by police since 2005, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters.

 

The attacker didn't have any past convictions in France, Molins said. The man's most recent arrest occurred in the Lyon area Friday -- just two days before the train station stabbing.

 

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