A daylight attack at a playground in the French Alps saw a man stab a number of small children and at least one adult.
The solitary attacker brandished a knife as he set upon youngsters at 9:45am local time inside a park close to a lake in the town of Annecy, in France.
The perpetrator was also injured and arrested by police at the scene following a chase, as security forces descended on the chaotic scene, The Mirror reports.
Two of the nursery school-aged children and the adult victim are all in critical condition, with several witnesses being treated for shock.
A radio station heard from a woman that the man scaled a fence and began stabbing in a frenzy.
An anonymous source said: "The man was shouting in English, and caused absolute panic when he started attacking the little ones."
The attacker was pictured at the time of the incident wearing shorts, sunglasses and a scarf around his head.
Anthony Le Tallec, a former Premier League footballer for Liverpool, who lives in Annecy, was jogging nearby at the time of the incident. He filmed as police arrived, stating that there were bodies of children 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'," he said. He added that the suspect passed him out and stabbed an old man "multiple times."
Reports from some people say they think they saw the man walking around the lake for a number of days.
Emmanuel Macron, French President described 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."
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