Five people were wounded by a knife attacker in central Marseille on Tuesday, with the attacker subsequently shot dead by police. 

The attack took place in a central district with a reputation for drug-related crime. 

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was headed to the scene on Tuesday evening. 

What happened in the apparent attack?

Marseille public prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told reporters that the attacker had fetched a knife and started attacking people after being expelled from a hotel for non-payment at around 14:45 local time (1245 UTC/GMT).

Bessone said three people were injured in the hotel, one guest, the manager and his son. 

The man then moved towards a snack restaurant nearby in the 1st Arondissement and started trying to attack staff and customers at random, wounding two more people, according to Bessone. 

Police soon arrived on the scene and demanded the man drop the knives he was carrying. After he refused and threatened police Bessone said he was shot, and declared dead after failed reanimation attempts at around 15:26. 

He said the suspect was a Tunisian national who was in France legally.

Bessone cautioned that all this information was pending further investigation, but also said there was already both eyewitness accounts and security camera footage for authorities to work with.

All the injured people were taken to hospital with stab wounds, Bessone said, with at least one in critical condition and others with serious wounds.

Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez