Audrey Brachelle, a 21-year-old economics student was attacked Thursday morning in the parking of a metro station located in La Rose, a mixed Muslim and Jewish district of the southern French city.

As she was returning from working at her uncle’s shop, two young men of North African origin approached her and first tried to steal her bag and her mobile phone.

According to the bureau, when they saw a Jewish ornament on her necklace, the two aggressors pulled it out and told her: "this is the sign of evil."

They then lifted her shirt, drew a swastika on her chest, cut off a clump of her hair and punched her in the face before fleeing.

"We believe the attackers showed their hatred after discovering the Jewish origin of their victim," Sammy Ghozlan, head of the French National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, said.

"This aggression in the heart of Marseille shows that the anti-Jewish hatred settled in our country despite the measures taken by the authorities."

Ghozlan called on police "to leave no stone unturned in order to identify and arrest the authors."

Police in Marseille were initially very cautious to admit that it was an anti-Jewish attack and are still searching for the assailants.

Brachelle whose mother is Jewish and father is from the French Antilles, is said to be "very traumatised" by the experience.

"For the moment, the only thing I want is for my daughter to regain her composure," her mother said.

"This is an isolated act and I hope it will not happen again in Marseille."

The head of the Jewish Agency delegation in France, David Roche, said that this was "the most severe anti-Semitic attack" in France since the murder of the 22-year-old Parisian Jew Ilan Halimi in February 2006.

Zvi Ammar, President of the Jewish Consistoire, declared in a statement that the incident was "unacceptable" in a city like Marseille.

Around 100,000 Jews live in the city.