Officials have stated that the four young children who were stabbed in a park in Annecy, in the southeast of France, are now in a stable condition.
The children, who range in age from one to three, are receiving medical care.
After the knifeman entered a playground to carry out the attack, police overpowered him and took him into custody.
One of the injured includes a three-year-old British child, and another is Dutch. There were also two adults injured, one of whom is in critical condition.
Police have confirmed that the suspect is a 31-year-old Syrian who was granted refugee status in Sweden.
The attack, according to regional deputy Antoine Armand, was “abominable,” and he claimed that while authorities were looking into it, they knew “very little.”
Uploaded video of the attack depicts a little playground where everyday activities are going on. Parents and other adults are there, and there are children running around.
There are screams immediately after a man enters brandishing a knife. He is clearly looking for kids to attack and attacks a child in a pushchair.
The attack site was visited by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
At a press conference, Ms. Borne stated that the assailant “has no criminal or psychiatric record.”
The young victims’ ages ranged from 22 months to three years, Annecy prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis told reporters.
There “doesn’t seem to be any kind of terrorist motivation”, she said.
According to the police, the suspect, who recently arrived in France and has refugee status in Sweden, left behind a wife and a three-year-old daughter. He claimed to be a Syrian Christian in an unsuccessful asylum application last year for refugee status in France.
The attacker invoked the name of Jesus Christ during the incident.
He was a Christian, according to a woman who identified herself as his ex-wife and told reporters.
She said, he had not previously displayed a violent streak, adding “he does not call me for four months. [Our relationship] stopped because we lived in Sweden and he did not want to live in Sweden anymore.”
Knife attacks have become common in France in recent years, frequently committed by lone young men with a history of misdemeanor criminal activity or some connection to the Islamic State. This attack definitely differs from others, as is evident.
The majority of politicians are being cautious so far to avoid drawing conclusions, but it is inevitable that the attack will contribute to the immigration discussion.
Source-BBC
