UPDATE: AP now reports that the acid attack will not be investigated as an act of terrorism. The assailant has a history of mental health issues and did not try to flee the scene after the attack. The American women who were assaulted have been identified as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Korsten. They’re all students at Boston College. The director of the BC’s Office of International Programs said, “It appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances.”
BREAKING: French prosecutors are not investigating the acid attack on four American women in Marseille as an act of terror.
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 17, 2017
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The Associated Press is reporting that four young American women have been hospitalized following an acid attack in France. The assault, which occurred in the southern city of Marseilles, left two of the four with injuries; one is facing possible eye damage. Blessedly, overall, it doesn’t look like the injuries are serious. French authorities noted that no declarations were made when the assailant, a 41-year-old woman, attacked the tourists. The other two victims were hospitalized for shock (via AP):
Four young American tourists were attacked with acid Sunday at a train station in the French city of Marseille and a 41-year-old woman has been arrested as their alleged assailant, the Marseille prosecutor’s office said.
Two of the female tourists suffered facial injuries during the late morning attack at Marseille’s Saint Charles train station and one of the two also had a possible eye injury, a spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press in a phone call.
[…]
The spokeswoman said the suspect did not make any extremist threats or declarations during the attack. She said there were no obvious indications that the woman’s actions were terror-related, but added that officials could not completely rule out terror as a motive so early in the investigation.
The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity, per the custom of the French judicial system.
[…]
In previous incidents in Marseille, a driver deliberately rammed into two bus stops last month, killing a woman, but officials said it wasn’t terror-related.
In April, French police said they thwarted an imminent “terror attack” and arrested two suspected radicals in Marseille just days before the first round of France’s presidential election. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters the two suspects “were getting ready to carry out an imminent, violent action.” In January 2016, a 15-year-old Turkish Kurd was arrested after attacking a Jewish teacher on a Marseille street. He told police he acted in the name of the Islamic State group