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US Student in Acid Attack in France Asks for Prayers for Suspect

Boston College quoted police as saying the attack wasn't thought to be terror-related

An American college student who was one of four women attacked with acid at a Marseille train station says on Facebook that she's planning to continue her "incredible opportunity" to study in France.

Michelle Krug asked for prayers for the alleged assailant, a 41-year-old woman described by police as "disturbed."

The four women are part of the study abroad program of Boston College, a private Jesuit school. All of the students are in their junior year.

Two women who posted late Sunday on Facebook asked for prayers for the assailant. Krug said she was one of two who got hit in the eye with "a weak solution of hydrochloric acid," but added that "mental illness is not a choice and should not be villainized."

The four women were briefly hospitalized and treated for burns and have since been released.

Boston College quoted police as saying the attack wasn't thought to be terror-related. Spokesperson Jack Dunn says it's the first time students were attacked while taking classes in different countries, and that school leaders won't be making any new safety recommendations because this is considered an isolated incident.

France has seen scattered attacks by unstable individuals as well as extremist violence in recent years, including in Marseille, a port city in southern France that is closer to Barcelona than Paris.

A driver deliberately rammed into two bus stops in Marseille 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.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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