The two victims of the Marseille knife attack were identified by their first names as cousins and best friends Mauranne and Laura, both 20.

Mauranne was from Eguilles, a town near Aix-en-Provence, and was studying medicine at Marseille university, where she lived on campus.

Yvon Berland, the president of the university, said she was a ‘brilliant student’, who would have enjoyed a ‘superb professional future’.

Tragic: The two victims of the Marseille knife attack were identified by their first names as cousins and best friends Mauranne (left) and Laura (right), both 20

Laura lived in Rillieux-la-Pape, on the outskirts of Lyon, and had travelled to Marseille to celebrate her upcoming 21st birthday with her cousin and other friends.

Laura was in the second year of a course to qualify as a nurse in Lyon, and was also a scout leader, having joined the scout movement as a volunteer three years ago.

The two young women were sitting on a bench in warm sunshine outside Marseille's main train station waiting for Laura’s train home when they were stabbed to death by the suspected Islamic State knifeman on Sunday.

The man shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he murdered the women outside St-Charles station in the southern city of Marseille on Sunday afternoon.

Out of custody: The attacker, pictured lying dead after he was gunned down outside Saint Charles station, Marseille, was an illegal immigrant who had been arrested last week

Shocked passers-by looked on in horror as he used a butcher’s knife to carry out the attack, before he was himself gunned down by a military patrol on anti-terrorism duties.

French prosecutors have today said the man presented a Tunisian passport when arrested last week.

Despite ISIS claiming responsibility for the attack, investigators have not found any link so far between the assailant and the terror group.

The man, who was aged between 30 and 35, has not been formally identified.

On Friday the attacker – who was a North African of either Algerian or Tunisian origin – was arrested in Lyon for shoplifting.

He had no papers on him and was in ‘an irregular situation in Europe’, so giving the authorities a chance to place him under judicial control.

‘Instead they let him go, and the next they heard about him was in connection with a double murder,’ said an investigating source in Marseille.

‘Forensic evidence has linked him with the incidents in Marseille and in Lyon, but his actual name and other details remain in dispute.

The attacker – who was a North African of either Algerian or Tunisian origin – was arrested in Lyon for shoplifting, but was released two days before the Marseille stabbings on Sunday

The assailant was gunned down by soldiers who were on patrol inside Saint Charles train station at the time as part of France's ongoing state of emergency

A body lies under a white sheet outside Marseille's main train station after a man with a butcher's knife attacked two women at the station

‘He was known to police for his links to drug-related crimes, but had used up to eight identities over the past few months.’

The source said the murderer, who was not on a terrorist watch list, had no links with radicalisation, despite Islamic State claiming responsibility for his station attack.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is 'Deeply outraged by this barbaric act’ and ‘sharing the pain’ of all those involved.

He said he ‘saluted’ the soldiers from Operation Sentinel, an anti-terrorism initiative, who ‘reacted with extreme calmness and efficiency’ as they killed the man.

Jean-Claude Gaudin, the Mayor of Marseille, has described the atrocity as a 'terrorist attack', while Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said it 'could be' related to terror.

It is thought to be the latest in a long series of Islamic State atrocities across France and the rest of Europe.

The assailant was shot dead by soldiers who were patrolling the station as part of France's state of emergency

The man shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he murdered the 17-year-old student and 21-year-old nurse outside St-Charles station

Prosecutors have opened an enquiry into ‘murders in connection with a terrorist enterprise’ and ‘attempted murder of a person holding public authority’.

The second charge related to the knifeman trying to attack the soldiers who were shooting at him.

Earlier this month, four female American college students were attacked with acid at Marseille St-Charles.

A woman suffering with mental illness was arrested for an assault that had nothing to do with terrorism.

France remains under a state of emergency following a series of attacks by Islamist radicals linked to Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.

Security at transport hubs in France including rail stations has been massively stepped up because of repeated threats.

Two women were stabbed to death and their assailant shot dead by soldiers in Marseille

French police search the body of the assailant shortly after he was gunned down outside the busy station

Recent attacks have included an attempt to kill a soldier at the Eiffel Tower over the summer.

The 19-year-old psychiatric patient was placed in custody after he brandished a knife and pledged allegiance to Isis.

In April, 39-year-old police officers Xavier Jugele was shot dead while on duty on the Champs Elysee just days before the French presidential election.

Isis claimed the killing by Karim Cheurfi, also 39, who was shot dead by police in a gun battle. Two other officers were injured in the attack.

In June a student student shouted ‘This is for Syria’ as he tried to attack a policeman with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He was shot and ended up in custody in hospital.

And in March a convicted criminal with links to radical Islam shouted 'I am here to die for Allah, there will be deaths' seconds before he was shot dead during an attack at Paris Orly airport.

Ziyed Ben Belgacem, a 39-year-old career criminal, was killed after wrestling a soldier's gun from her and fleeing into a McDonald's restaurant.

It followed the shooting in February of a man outside the Louvre museum in the heart of Paris after he attempted to storm the historic art gallery.