Two adults and four young children have been injured in a knife attack in the south-eastern French town of Annecy, authorities said on Thursday.
Several of the victims, which include very young children, are reported to be in a critical condition.
A suspect has been arrested and is being questioned, Gérald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, wrote on Twitter.
The suspect has been identified as a Syrian asylum-seeker who had been granted refugee status in Sweden, according to a source close to the situation. The individual was not known to French intelligence services.
French prime minister Élisabeth Borne and Darmanin are travelling to the scene. The authorities have yet to make a statement on a possible motive for the attack.
Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, called the attack an act of “absolute cowardice”.
“Children and an adult are between life and death,” Macron wrote on Twitter. “The nation is in shock.”
Source: Financial Times
