Four Children Injured In Knife Attack In French Town

A man with a knife attacked a group of preschoolers who were enjoying themselves by a lake in the French Alps on Thursday, inflicting injuries on four of them as well as an adult, and sending shock waves through the nation.

The suspect was arrested at the scene at around 9:45 am (0745 GMT).

A police source who spoke to AFP under the condition of anonymity said that the man identified himself as a Syrian seeking asylum.

Gerald Darmanin, the minister of the interior, claimed in a tweet that he was apprehended “thanks to the swift reaction of security forces.”

Two of the victims, who are thought to be approximately three years old, and the adult were hospitalized in critical condition and were fighting for their lives.

Six children and another person were reportedly harmed, according to local authorities and a security source. The stabbing was condemned by French President Emmanuel Macron as an act “of absolute cowardice.”

“The country is in shock. Their families, as well as the emergency services, are in our thoughts, he said on Twitter.

As word of the incident spread through the French media, the office of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that she would be heading to the scene. Members of the national parliament also observed a moment of quiet.

“There are very young children in a critical state and I ask you to observe a minute of silence for them, for their families,” parliament speaker Yael Braun-Pivet told MPs as she interrupted a raucous debate about pension reform.

“We hope that the consequences of this extremely serious attack are not consequences that will send the country into mourning,” she added.

Security personnel were investigating the attacker’s identity, which has not been confirmed.

Over the past ten years, France has been the subject of several horrific Islamist assaults, including that on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in 2015, the Paris national stadium and Bataclan concert venue in 2016, and the city of Nice in 2017.

Most recently, a national discussion concerning the presence of radical Islam in underprivileged sections of the country was sparked by the daylight beheading of a teacher in 2020 near his school in a Paris suburb by a Chechen refugee.

In the calm Alpine region, 30 kilometers south of the Swiss city of Geneva, Annecy has 135,000 residents.