British girl ‘stable’ after Alps attack

ABritish girl who was one of four children stabbed in a knife attack in the French Alps was on holiday in the area.

The knifeman attacked the group of children – aged between 22 months and three years – and two adults at a lakeside park in Annecy on Thursday.

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspect, a 31-year-old Syrian man, had tried to claim asylum in France but it was refused on Sunday as he was granted asylum in Sweden 10 years ago.

The British girl is aged three and was taken to hospital in Grenoble.

French President Emmanuel Macron was in the Alps yesterday to meet families and witnesses traumatised by the attack.

Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte flew to Grenoble and met three of the injured children before heading to Annecy.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne confirmed all four children had surgery and “are under constant medical surveillance”.

Two of the children were still critical yesterday, government spokesman Olivier Veran said, but reports suggest the British girl is stable.

Well-wishers have been visiting the playground where the attack happened.

The Swedish Migration Agency confirmed the suspect was granted permanent residency in 2013 but denied citizenship in 2017 and 2018, and applied again last August.

Local prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said one of the adults was seriously injured by both a knife wound from the attacker and a bullet wound from police as officers shot at the knifeman.

The Telegraph reported the gunshot victim is a 78-year-old man who is now in a life-threatening condition in hospital after

also being stabbed six times.

Witnesses said the knifeman shouted “in the name of Jesus Christ” as he launched the attack, including stabbing a child in a pushchair repeatedly as bystanders cried for help.

Ms Bonnet-Mathis told a press conference on Thursday the attacker’s

motives were unclear, but they did not appear to be related to terrorism.

Ms Borne said the man had no criminal or psychiatric record and appeared to have acted alone.

“We are absolutely shaken by all this and we are standing firm by the people of Annecy,” she added.

TRIBUTE: A well-wisher near the scene of the stabbing incident in Annecy, France.