France knife attack: British child among those injured after several very young children stabbed in park

Children as young as three are in a critical condition following a knife attack in the French alpine town of Annecy

A British child has been injured after several very young children were stabbed in a lakeside park in the French Alps,, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said.

The suspected knifeman has been arrested following the attack which saw several very young children – including one in a pushchair – attacked.

Adults were also attacked in the town of Annecy on Thursday.

French police officers stand next to an emergency truck in Annecy, central-eastern France following a mass stabbing in the French Alpine town. Picture: Olivier Chassingnole/AFP via Getty Images

At least two children and one adult have been left with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

The suspect is a 31-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker, police said.

Video on social media appeared to show the attack in a children’s play park.

Footage showed a man in dark glasses and with a blue scarf covering his head brandishing a blade as people screamed for help.

He first circled the playground, slashing at a bystander, and then climbed over its barriers to attack people inside.

He appeared to stab a child in a pushchair repeatedly.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the attack as one of “absolute cowardice”.

Of the victims, he said “children and an adult are between life and death”.

“The nation is in shock,” he tweeted.

Local police said the four child victims are all under the age of five.

National police said two of the children, both about three, suffered life-threatening injuries, as did one adult.

A witness who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV said he saw the attacker jumping on an elderly man and stabbing him repeatedly.

The witness said he shouted at police to act.