Attack on US students 'not terror act'

PARIS - A woman threw acid at four US female students at a train station in the French city of Marseilleon Sunday, an attack police said they did not believe was terrorism-related.

Boston College, a private university in Massachusetts, said on Sunday that the four students were treated at a hospital for burns after they were sprayed in the face with acid. The statement said the four all were juniors studying abroad, three of them at the college's Paris program.

"It appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns," Nick Gozik, who directs Boston College's Office of International Programs. "We have been in contact with the students and their parents and remain in touch with French officials and the US Embassy regarding the incident."

Police in France described the suspect as "disturbed" and said the attack was not thought at this point to be terror-related, according the university's statement.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that it had decided for the time being not to assume jurisdiction for investigating the attack. The office has responsibility for all terror-related cases in France, did not explain the reasoning behind the decision.

Two of the students were "slightly injured" with acid but did not require emergency medical treatment from medics at the scene, the spokeswoman said. She requested anonymity in keeping with fire department protocol.

An anonymous source said the suspect had a history of mental health problems but no apparent past links to extremism. Regional newspaper La Provence said the assailant remained at the site of the attack without trying to flee.

AP - Reuters

(China Daily 09/19/2017 page12)