Marseille attack: French police shoot man dead after four people stabbed

A man with a knife stabbed four people in the French port city of Marseille before he was shot dead by police; it's not believed to be a terror attack.

An investigating police officer looks at a gun, after the attack. Source: AP

French police have shot dead a man in central Marseille after he stabbed four people in the southern port city, in an attack that did not appear to be terrorism-related, police sources say.

The assailant tried to take a gun out to fire on police officers before they shot him, the source said on Tuesday.

The man wounded two people on a tram and two people in the street, one of them seriously.

The prosecutor's office said the attack was not politically-motivated.

Police say the attack was "not politically motivated". Source: AP

"It's a common law assault," said  prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux. 

A fourth person suffered leg wounds from bullet fragments, police said, adding that they had opened fire on the assailant when he threatened them with a weapon.

The knife attack occurred in the afternoon on a busy street in the centre of the city, the second largest in France.

In October 2017, a man wielding a knife killed two women at the Saint Charles main train station in Marseille in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State group.

The assailant was shot dead by soldiers on patrol to guard against such terrorist attacks.