An unidentified suspect with a knife went on a stabbing spree in a square near Annecy town's famous lake, injuring four children and an adult. According to reports, at least three of the victims are in critical condition.
According to authorities, the suspect has been arrested. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the attack took place in a square in the lakeside town of Annecy.
In a short tweet, he said police have detained the attacker. “Several people including children have been injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy,” he tweeted.
The Guardian reported that around 9.45am, a man armed with a knife entered a children’s playground near the town’s famous lake and attacked a group of children aged about three years old as they played.
An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak about the developing situation, said four children and two adults were wounded.
The official cautioned that the number of wounded could evolve because the full details weren't yet clear. The official said he had no details about the gravity of the injuries.
National police also said that four children were among the wounded and that two of them suffered life-threatening injuries. The other two children were lightly injured, police said.
Police said one adult also suffered life-threatening wounds. Police also cautioned that the injury count was evolving.
A local lawmaker, Antoine Armand, tweeted that children were attacked on a playground. He called the attack abominable. In Paris, lawmakers interrupted a debate to hold a moment of silence for the victims.
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne is expected to visit the incident site. French President condoled the incident and said that the nation is in shock. “Attack of absolute cowardice this morning in a park in Annecy. Children and an adult are between life and death. The Nation is in shock. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the emergency services mobilized,” Macron tweeted.
According to reports, the attacker had refugee status and was carrying Syrian identity papers; he was an asylum seeker.
(With PTI inputs.)
