Several children and at least one adult have been stabbed in a knife attack in France.

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the attack took place in a square in the lakeside town of Annecy in the south east of the country.

“Several people including children have been injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy,” he tweeted.

What do we know about the attack?

A man armed with a knife attacked a group of children and adults in a park.

The attack took place in a playground in the medieval town, which is based in the French Alps.

Sky News international correspondent John Sparks says it “would be very busy at this time of year with tourists and residents out on the streets”.

Police said four children are among the injured.

Two, reported to be just three-years-old, suffered life-threatening injuries, while two escaped with minor injuries.

One adult also sustained life-threatening injuries.

What about the attacker?

The attacker is reported to be a Syrian national with legal refugee status in France, a police official told the Reuters news agency.

Police say he is in his 30s and has been detained.

He was not known to the French security services and his motivation is unclear, a source told the Reuters news agency.

What is local media reporting?

A witness told broadcaster BFMTV he saw first aiders working on “little bodies, three or four years old, perhaps”.

Local politician Antoine Armand said the children were attacked on a playground near a primary school.

Speaking to BFMTV from the National Assembly building in Paris, he said the victims include “very young” children who were “savagely attacked”.

BFMTV showed footage of several policemen overpowering an individual in a park.

What have the president and politicians said?

Emmanuel Macron said it was an “absolutely cowardly attack in a park” and the “nation is in shock”.

In Paris, politicians interrupted a debate to hold a moment of silence for the victims, BFMTV reported.

The assembly president, Yael Braun-Pivet, said: “There are some very young children who are in critical condition and I invite you to respect a minute of silence for them, for their families, and so that, we hope, the consequences of this very grave attack do not lead to the nation grieving.”

Related posts:

Europe’s vaccine rollout ‘unacceptably slow’ and prolonging pandemic, says WHO Italy bans all cruise ships from central Venice in bid to preserve famed waters ‘Everything is destroyed’: Wildfires ravage Greek island of Rhodes Teenage boxer dies days after being knocked out in fight Naomi Osaka to take indefinite break from tennis following her defeat at the US Open Man who stabbed seven people at New Zealand supermarket is named Zelenskyy’s wife reveals Putin’s ‘fatal mistake’ as she tells of life during Russian invasion Shahbaz Sharif replaces ousted Khan as Pakistan prime minister What weapons do Ukrainians want to fight Russian forces? Taiwan’s military releases war survival guide for civilians amid China tensions More than 200 Ukrainian soldiers are being evacuated from Azovstal steel plant after weeks of resistance Amsterdam to weed out cannabis in red light district