Knife attack in French city of Annecy leaves several injured, attacker arrested

Panic spread in the French city of Annecy, Thursday morning, after a man attacked a number of people, most of them children.

Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath correspondent reported today, Thursday, that a man armed with a “knife” attacked several people, including 4 children, most of whom were three years old, in a public park in Annecy.

He also explained that a number of the injured minors were in critical condition, adding that the police had arrested the attacker.

In turn, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan announced in a tweet on Twitter that the attacker “was arrested thanks to the swift action of the security forces.”

In addition, eyewitnesses told local media that the attacker deliberately stabbed children and young adults.

Syrian asylum seeker

Later, the French police revealed that the attacker was a Syrian citizen, who enjoys “legal refugee” status in the country, and had injured 4 children and an adult.

While some sources revealed that his name is Abdel-Masih H., and he is 32 years old, according to what was reported by local media.

It also clarified that the aggressor applied for asylum last November, and he was not known to have any prior records with the security services.

cowardice

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack, describing it as a cowardly act.

He also confirmed in a tweet on Twitter that the country is in a state of shock after the attack on innocent children.

Stabbing, explosions and gunfire

It is noteworthy that France has witnessed, during the past years, many attacks of a terrorist nature, which raised the level of security alert, and prompted the authorities to tighten their control over some centers that raise suspicions.

Deadly bombings and shootings on November 13, 2015 at the Bataclan theater and other locations around Paris killed 130 people. In July 2016, an extremist drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 people.

Also, a gunman killed three people on March 23, 2018 in the southwest of the country, shooting at the police and taking hostages in a supermarket,” so the security forces stormed the building and killed him.

Then, on October 16, 2020, an 18-year-old attacker of Chechen origin beheaded Samuel Paty, a teacher at a French school in a suburb of Paris. A few days later, on October 29, 2020, a young Tunisian beheaded a woman and killed two people with a knife in a church in Nice, before the police shot and arrested him.

In May 2021, the city of Nantes, in the west of the country, witnessed a knife attack on a policewoman in the town of “La Chapelle-sur-Ardre”, which resulted in her serious injuries.

The country also later witnessed a number of individual attacks

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