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Two killed in Marseille shooting

MARSEILLE: Two more violent deaths occurred overnight in the southern French city of Marseille, known for its turf wars for control of the drug trade, officials said today.

A masked gunman armed with an assault rifle stormed into a sports club at around 1:00 am today in the northern district of Estaque and shot dead a man in his thirties with a police record for dealing in drugs, Marseille prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux told the Media.

A 28-year-old bus driver who was in the line of fire was also killed. He was playing cards in the building and had no police record.

The deaths came 24 hours after Interior Minister Gerard Collomb visited the sprawling port city. A total of 18 cartridges were found in the building, Tarabeux said.

A total of 11 people this year have been killed in Marseille in shootings related to criminal gangs. Last year, 14 people were killed in similar attacks in the Bouches-du-Rhone department, where Marseille is located.

Relevant pieces published earlier:

As an eye-witness had noted and provided the license number of the killer van, police managed to nab its driver. According to sources the 35-year-old accused from Grenoble was being treated for psychological problems. Newspaper La Provence, sans quoting its source, has claimed that the suspect came to Marseille specifically for psychiatric treatment in a specialized institution. Since the anti-terror prosecutor has not yet stepped into the case, it is believed that it was not an attack by the militant extremists. One may recall that due to the van attack a man was injured at the first bus stop. A woman in her early 40s lost her life when the van crashed into a second bus stop in another district. Marseille rampage was an act of terror or not, the incident just after few days of the van attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils (that killed 14 and injured scores of pedestrians) is alarming. Moreover, pundits at the helm of affairs are of the view that despite van driver’s mental insatiability episode, it is quite possible that eventually some terrorist connection surfaces.

M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.