4 children injured in knife attack in French town of Annecy

PARIS - Four children and an adult have been injured in a knife attack in a park in Annecy, a town in the French Alps, police said on Thursday (June 8), adding that three of the children were in a life-threatening condition.

The children were about three years old, police said. Earlier, police spoke of eight children hurt.

French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter that attacker had been arrested.

An interior ministry spokesperson said that four children and two adults had been injured.

Haute Savoie region member of parliament Virginie Duby-Muller said on BFM that the attacker was a Syrian who had asylum refugee status. Police could not comment on the attacker's identity, other than to say it was a man.

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

"Nothing more abominable than to attack children," French national assembly speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said on Twitter. The French parliament observed a minute of silence to mark the incident.

ALSO READ: Teenage girl killed after knife attack at Polish orphanage; 9 hurt