A man armed with knife stabbed two women to death at the Saint Charles train station in the southern French city of Marseille on Sunday before being shot dead by patrolling soldiers in a suspected terror attack.

On Twitter, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said after the attack at Saint Charles main train station he was heading to Marseille.

It is reported that the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he stabbed two women.

"Two victims have been stabbed to death," Local media quoted regional police chief Olivier de Mazieres as saying.

The area around Saint Charles train station at Marseille has been cordoned off and the station has been evacuated.

On September 15, a man wielding a knife attacked a soldier of Operation Sentinelle force patrolling outside Chatelet metro station in Paris.

France has opened a counter-terrorism inquiry after the rising incidents of troops being attacked, stationed at capital's transport hubs and tourist sites.

France has been the victim of a string of Islamic State-inspired terror attacks in the past two years, most notably the November 2015 atrocities which claimed the lives of 130 people.

Image: Police secure the area outside the Saint-Charles train. Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters