Islamic State group claims responsibility for Marseille attack

Columbia: The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a knife attack that killed two women at the main train station in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille.

The monitoring group SITE quoted an Arabic language report on the group`s Amaq propaganda agency that cited a "security source" as saying: "The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Marseille... is from the soldiers of the Islamic State."

The attacker, a man believed to be in his 30s, was shot dead by soldiers serving in a special 7,000-strong force known as Sentinelle set up to guard vulnerable areas in terror-hit France.

Witnesses said he shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) at the start of his rampage.

The latest deaths came with France still on high alert and under a state of emergency following a string of attacks in recent years by extremists linked to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda.