Four children injured in knife attack in French town, two in critical condition
World
French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter that attacker had been arrested
PARIS (Reuters, AP) – A Syrian national wounded four children and an adult in a knife attack in a French park on Thursday, police said, leaving some of the victims critically ill in hospital.
The attack, which happened in the French alpine town of Annecy, was carried out by a Syrian national with legal refugee status in France, a police official told Reuters.
"Children and one adult are between life and death. The nation is in shock," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Twitter, calling the attack "an act of absolute cowardice".
French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter that attacker had been arrested.
Two children and one adult are in life-threatening condition, while two children were slightly hurt, police said.
Witnesses said at least one child involved was in a stroller.
BFM TV showed footage of several policemen overpowering an individual in a park.
"Nothing more abominable than to attack children," French national assembly speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said on Twitter. The French parliament observed a minute of silence to mark the incident.
AP adds: Witnesses said some of the children appeared very young. A man who spoke to broadcaster BFMTV said he saw first-aiders working on “little bodies, 3 or 4 years old, perhaps.”
A local lawmaker, Antoine Armand, said the children were attacked on a playground. Speaking to BFMTV from the National Assembly building in Paris, he said the victims included “very young” children and that they were “savagely attacked.” The attack took place close to a primary school, he said.
National police and an Interior Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak about the developing situation both said that four children were among the wounded.
Police said two of the children suffered life-threatening injuries and that the other two were lightly injured.
Police said one adult also suffered life-threatening wounds.
Both police and the Interior Ministry official cautioned that cautioned that the number of wounded could evolve because the full details weren’t yet clear.
In Paris, lawmakers interrupted a debate to hold a moment of silence for the victims.
The assembly president, Yaël Braun-Pivet, said: “There are some very young children who are in critical condition and I invite you to respect a minute of silence for them, for their families, and so that, we hope, the consequences of this very grave attack do not lead to the nation grieving.”
