A man who fatally stabbed two women outside the main railway station in Marseille had multiple identities, French prosecutors say.

The suspect, who was shot dead by a soldier on Sunday, is said to have been released by police in the city of Lyon a day earlier after being arrested for shoplifting.

Paris’ public prosecutor Francois Molins said: “The attacker was quickly identified from his fingerprints which had been taken seven times since 2005, under seven different identities. These identities, in addition to the various aliases were not known to the anti-terror services. Similarly, he had no criminal convictions.”

The killer is reported to have shown a Tunisian passport to police in Lyon on Saturday when he was detained.

Investigators are still trying to establish if he had any help or links to ISIL, which has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The two victims, who were cousins, were in their 20s.

Interior minister Gerard Collomb said the attacker had fled the station after slitting the throat of the first young woman, before returning to fatally stab the other victim in the stomach.