Paris, June 8 (EFE).- Five people were injured, including four young children, during a knife attack in a park in the French Alps, authorities reported on Thursday.
A man armed with a knife attacked a group of children who were around 3 years old at 9:45 am in a park in the lake town of Annecy, in southeastern France, according to authorities.
The alleged perpetrator, a 32-year-old Syrian national with no police record, has been arrested and was also injured, according to local media.
Two of the four children were in critical condition and were airlifted to a hospital, according to reports.
Interior minister Gérald Darmanin said on Twitter that the alleged perpetrator “has been arrested thanks to the rapid reaction of security forces.”
Darmanin and Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne are traveling to the site where the incident took place.
Several witnesses who ran to the park when they heard screams told local reporters that the attacker stabbed some of the children while they were in their strollers.
They described a “horrifying” scene, amid screams and the bodies of some of the victims lying on the grass.
Images on social media networks showed the arrest of the alleged perpetrator by police officers who were still wearing their motorcycle helmets when they apprehended the man.
The area where the attack took place remains cordoned off.
“The nation is in shock,” French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted.
“Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the emergency services mobilized,” he added.
France’s national assembly held a minute’s silence to honor the victims of the attack.EFE
rcf/ch
