Four young nursery school children, including a British girl, and at least two adults have been wounded in a mass stabbing at a playground in the French Alps.
A lone man armed with a knife rushed a playground and started his attack on children in strollers at 9:45am local time in a park near a lake in the town of Annecy. The children were reported to be three years old.
The attacker was also injured and arrested at the scene after security forces swooped in - as local politicians condemned the bloodbath.
One witness claims the suspect spoke in English before the stabbing frenzy.
A man who spoke to broadcaster BFMTV said he saw first-aiders working on "little bodies" and the attacker has since been named as 32-year-old Abdalmasih H, who was pictured at the time of the attack wearing shorts, sunglasses and a scarf around his head.
The public prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathias confirmed the ages of the child victims, saying one is 22 months old, two were two-years-old, and a fourth is three-years-old.
She added that the defendant was in police custody at the Annecy police station and there was no apparent terrorist motive.
Six people, including four children, were in emergency care with the 22-month-old fighting for their life.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed that a British child was amongst the several injured during the shocking attack.
He said: “Our thoughts are with the victims and the families and we stand ready to support the French authorities in whichever way we can.
Mr Cleverly said he was “also aware that one of the people, one of the children injured, was a British national”.
“We have already deployed British consular officials who are travelling to the area to make themselves available to support the family,” he said.
“And of course we stand in strong solidarity with the people of France at this terrible time.”
CNews reported the three-year-old was rushed to a hospital in Grenoble, around 65 miles away.
One woman told a local radio station the suspect had jumped over a park fence and began stabbing.
An eyewitness named Ferdinand told BFM TV: "He jumped (in the playground), started shouting and then went towards the strollers, repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife."
Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "The man was shouting in English, and caused absolute panic when he started attacking the little ones.
"He wanted to hurt as many people as he could. He caused carnage. The young children were just easy targets."
Local police said a second adult also was injured and was being treated with the others in a hospital. They gave no other details about the victim, and the discrepancy in the number of adult victims wasn't immediately explained.
The attacker is thought to be 32-year-old Syrian refugee Abdalmasih H, who was pictured at the time of the attack wearing shorts, sunglasses and a scarf around his head.
An investigating source said: "The attacker was a Syrian asylum seeker who has spent a lot of time in Annecy. He targeted children indiscriminately, and also wounded an adult."
France Info reported that the man was carrying Syrian identity papers and was an asylum seeker.
BFMTV reported that the man had refugee status and a police source told AFP that checks on the man were ongoing, but he was unknown to French security services.
Former Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec, who lives in Annecy, was out for a run at the time of the tragedy.
He filmed police and emergency services at the scene in an Instagram story and said he had seen children lying on the ground.
"I was running along the edge of the lake and suddenly a mum shouts at me, 'Run, run, someone is stabbing everyone along the lake, he has stabbed children, run, run.'"
The suspect ran past him while being chased by the police, he said. The attacker then rushed up to an older man nearby and stabbed him multiple times.
He continued: "He attacked an old man, stabbed him and police couldn’t catch up to him. I told the police: 'But... Shoot him, kill him! He’s stabbing everyone.'
"I kept running and saw children lying on the ground. It’s so sad. They were attacked, it’s unbelievable."
Other witnesses say they think they saw the man wandering around the lake for several days.
French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the attack as "absolute cowardice."
He said: "Children and an adult are between life and death. The nation is in shock. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the emergency services mobilised."
While Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior of France, said as soon as the news broke: "Several people, including children, were injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy."
The stabbing happened in the Pâquier section, which is a wide esplanade bordering Lake Annecy, in Annecy town.
Fanny, a witness in the park, told BFMTV it is usually a peaceful, family-friendly space to relax.
"This is the best-known park in Annecy. This is where all activities take place and where all young residents of Annecy meet. It’s a very peaceful place and I’ve never heard of an attack. It’s astonishing", she said.
Many more politicians have reacted following the horror in the usually sleepy town.
"The horror. Emotion and anger ", wrote Socialist Party politician Boris Vallaud. While right-wing Marine Le Pen said her "thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones."
Antoine Armand, a member of Parliament for Haute-Savoie, where the attack happened, also condemned the attack saying it was "abominable."
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a former Member of the National Assembly of France, wrote on Twitter: "How is it possible?
"Attacking little ones! Hit them with a knife! Our heart is in pieces having to live it. To the children our painful affection. To the parents all our grieving sympathy."
A minute of silence has been observed at the National Assembly and the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, is on her way to the scene.
The motive for the attack is unknown, but the country has been previously hit by a string of tragic so-called Islamist terrorist attacks, often carried out by lone men.
And while terrorist attacks have stayed out of headlines in France in recent years, the country is still on high alert and authorities say police and intelligence services regularly foil plots.
Attacks specifically targeting children are rare in France.
French media said that Abdalmasih H shouted "in the name of Jesus Christ" twice during the attack and presented as a Christian from Syria when he applied for asylum in France in November last year.
The mayor of Annecy, François Astorg, spoke out this afternoon about the "appalling" attack and said the authorities were doing everything they can.
He added that a "psychological unit for city officials" was set up.
