Horrific footage shows a Syrian refugee repeatedly stabbing a toddler in its pram in front of his screaming mother in a frenzied attack at a French playground that saw four children knifed.

The attacker, identified as Abdalmash H, 32, launched his 'abominable' rampage in a lakeside park in Annecy, an alpine town in southeastern France, at around 9.45am.

Video shows the attacker running into the small playground and repeatedly stabbing a toddler in his pram while his screaming mother tries to protect him from the attack.

Further dramatic footage shows the attacker, a Syrian refugee who arrived in France last year, later being pinned to the ground by armed police officers at the park after being chased away from the playground by locals.

Horrified witnesses say mothers ran past them screaming 'run, run' in the aftermath of the frenzied attack, which President Emmanuel Macron has condemned as 'absolute cowardice'.

Four children aged around three - reportedly including a three-year-old British girl - and an adult were seriously injured in the attack. Two of the young victims and the adult are now in a life-threatening condition at a nearby hospital.

Witnesses said the knifeman had begun attacking the preschool children while they were playing at a small playground in a scene of utter 'carnage'. They said he had launched his onslaught on the toddlers because they were 'easy targets'.



Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12173067/Eight-children-stabbed-knifeman-French-playground-attacker-subdued.html

Witnesses said they heard the man shouting before he began attacking the small children in the playground. One of the injured children was in a stroller.

Horrific video of the attack shows Abdalmash H carrying a knife and running towards a screaming mother whose little boy is in a stroller before a local man hits the attacker with his rucksack and chases him away.

But the knifeman jumps into the playground again and runs towards the mother and her toddler. The woman screams and tries to protect her son with her body but Abdalmash quickly moves around her and stabs the little boy twice.

The toddler can be seen screaming in pain as the mother and terrified parents scream for help.

Further video taken minutes after the stabbing shows the attacker being chased by locals across the park. Parents can be heard in the background screaming for help for their injured children.

Soon afterwards, armed police arrived at the scene and were able to subdue the knifeman before he was arrested.

'He jumped (in the playground), started shouting and then went towards the strollers, repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife,' a witness who gave his name as Ferdinand told BFM TV.

'Mothers were crying, everybody was running,' said George, another witness and owner of a nearby restaurant.

Another witness, who asked not to be named, said: 'The man was shouting in English, and caused absolute panic when he started attacking the little ones.

'He wanted to hurt as many people as he could. He caused carnage. The young children were just easy targets.'

Former Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec said he saw a group of people running at him before a mother shouted at him: 'Run, run, there is someone who is stabbing everyone all along the lake. They are stabbing children, run run!'

He continued: 'I was so surprised, I continued and then suddenly the guy appeared in front of me, then I saw the police who were ten metrrs behind him but they hadn't managed to get him yet. He was so near to me so I got out of the way.'

Another witness told Le Dauphine: 'We saw a person attacking children playing games, small ones, obviously that was his target. After people tried to scare him, he walked away and the police intervened.

'He spoke English. At the beginning, we all thought it was staged, but with the cries of people, we realised it was reality.'

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

The Interior Ministry said Abdalmash H is a Syrian national with legal refugee status in France after arriving in the country last year.

He was not known to security agencies and his motives were unclear, an investigative source said.

An investigating source said: 'The attacker was a Syrian asylum seeker who has spent a lot of time in Annecy.

'He was in a park square when he started the attack at about 9.45 in the morning. He targeted children indiscriminately, and also wounded an adult.'

Verified pictures posted on social media showed Abdalmasih H. approaching the children wearing shorts, sunglasses, and a scarf around his head before he launched his attack.

The knifeman was arrested soon afterwards following a brief struggle. Video shows three two armed police officers and a man pinning the attacker down on the grass before he was taken away.

Abdalmasih H. was himself seriously wounded by police, and was rushed to hospital, along with his five victims.

France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted: 'Several people including children were injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy.

'The individual was arrested thanks to the very rapid intervention of the police.'

Mr Darmanin confirmed that five people were wounded, including four young children, two of whom are in intensive care.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: 'Attack of absolute cowardice this morning in a park in Annecy. 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 that mobilised.'

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is now travelling to the scene of the attack, according to her aide.

Local politician Antoine Armand said in a tweet that children were targeted in a playground in an 'abominable' attack.

He wrote: 'We still know very little but all my support for the victims, relatives, law enforcement and rescue.'

And François Astorg, the Mayor of Annecy, said: 'Appalling attack this morning on the Paquier park in Annecy. All my thoughts to the victims and families.'

Politicians inside the National Assembly in Paris interrupted a debate to hold a minute of silence for the victims of the knife attack this morning.

The assembly president, Yaël 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.'

Islamabad

K

Something dey happen oooo, na kolo

Lol
Na small small their eyes go clear

Nothing person no go see for news

Damnnn niggar

Too bad

You be refugee but yet you still dey kill the people way give you asylum

The can't escape the punishment

They will blame it on mental health

Le Penn will cashin on this

Refugees in France about to receive wotowoto

You don't grant asylum to Muslim terrorists from Syria and expect to sleep with your two eyes closed. All Muslim terrorists from Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Iraq and including Nigeria should be abandoned to rot in their sh!thole countries

I pity Europe with their nonsense of excessive welcoming of terrorist people from the Muslim countries.

It's just a matter of time before Europe will be gone.

All because of what? Poor kids I hope they survive. Why no seek the true God

Ok.

That's what happens when you support those that wage war on another country, then you give refuge to the displaced people.

If you hadn't supported the war in Syria, Syrians would have remained in Syria doing their thing.

This inhumane thing deserves nothing but jungle justice.

Why dem nor stab am back

Good

Send dem back to Assad

Okechinwadike:
no place you see Muslims with out problem, they must find a way to cause bloodshed

Exactly. Muslims dominate Russia and Ukraine, hence........

.

serious

no place you see Muslims with out problem, they must find a way to cause bloodshed

Mad man!This is one of the cons of granting asylum,you don’t know if you’re granting access to your country and her people someone who’s supposed to be in a straitjacket. Speedy and full recovery to all the injured.

Anyone remember Anthony de Tallec?from Trinidad and Tobago 2001 the sidekick of Florent Sinama Pongolle the dude who denied them Femi Opabunmi,Victor Brown,Akpan Bassey the gold that year.

And when they start bombing the shit out of them, they will start crying that the west has started again.

id4sho:
Islamabad

Pakistan

hashtagged:
All because of what? Poor kids I hope they survive. Why no seek the true God Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ never called himself God, stop putting word in his mouth otherwise you be roasted in Hell.

no wonder afterwards people are against refugees etc, especially muslim&Arabic ones....

ednut1:
They will blame it on mental health

nah, they will blame it on REFUGEES and ISLAM, and quickly call the dude a terrorist....as they always do when a muslim&arabic person goes insane!

Too bad

Quick recovery to those injured