British girl, 3, and 22-month-old boy 'stable' in French hospital after being stabbed by Syrian asylum seeker
9 June 2023, 10:52 | Updated: 9 June 2023, 11:22
A three-year-old British girl and 22-month-old boy are in "stable" condition in hospital after being stabbed by a Syrian asylum seeker in France.
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All four children - aged between one and three - injured in the attack were taken to hospital in critical condition on Thursday, but Annecy Mayor Francois Astorg told French media that evening they were "stable" and "out of the operating room”.
The British girl, 3, is now in hospital in Grenoble, a city around an hour-and-a-half away by car, The Telegraph reported.
A man, 78, is also now in a life-threatening condition after being stabbed six times and shot once during the attack.
It comes after the knifeman’s former wife appeared in disbelief as she revealed that he has a daughter the same age as the children he attacked in the rampage.
Abdalmasih H, 31, was caught in Annecy, southeastern France on Thursday after he attacked four young children in a playground, including a child in a pushchair, and two adults.
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Speaking to French media outlets in the aftermath of the attack, the knifeman’s former wife revealed he has a daughter aged three.
Reacting to the incident, his unnamed ex-wife, 26, said: “My God. He is very nice. I don’t understand.”
In disbelief, she went onto detail that in their life together before he had been an attentive father and enjoyed looking after their three-year old-daughter. She also revealed that the 31-year-old had previously studied to become a nurse.
She added: “We met in Turkey, we fell in love and we came here [to Sweden]. We married after two years but he didn’t manage to obtain Swedish nationality so he decided to leave the country. We separated because I didn’t want to leave Sweden.”
Content warning: Violence. Viewer discretion is advised
Horror footage shows moment man attacks with a knife in Annecy
Countless tributes have been left at the scene of the incident devoted to the victims of the crime.
The motives of the knifeman remain unknown, but it is not believed to be terror-related.
According to a minister, the attacker had been denied asylum in France just days before the attack, as he had already been granted asylum in Sweden 10 years ago – however he failed to receive Swedish citizenship twice.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspect entered France legally, adding: "For some reasons we don't really understand, he applied for asylum in Switzerland, in Italy and in France, which he didn't need to do as he already had asylum in Sweden for the past 10 years."
Swedish media reported he had been prosecuted before for welfare fraud for receiving unemployment benefits and a study grant, as he studied Swedish and English in adult education.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who visited Annecy on Thursday, said he was not known to intelligence services and did not appear to have a psychiatric history.
Horror footage shows moment man attacks with a knife in Annecy
Eyewitnesses caught the moment the Syrian knife attacker in France was surrounded and captured by police after he wounded six people including a three-year-old British girl.
Four children, including one as young as 22 months, were injured after the asylum seeker attacked a playground in a park in Annecy, southeastern France. Two adults were also hurt.
The man was seen running around the coastal park pursuing a victim while police surround him.
A gunshot was heard but it was unclear if it hit him. The assailant fell to the ground as police surrounded and detained him. He now remains in custody.
Earlier on Thursday, horrific footage showed the knife-wielding attacker stab at a child in a pram during his rampage in Annecy, France, while a woman who appears to be the mother desperately tried to stop him.
Abdalmasih H was shown running around a children's play park carrying a blade on Thursday morning.
Wearing a blue and white headdress, a jumper and shorts, he waved the knife as an onlooker tried to stop him with a bag.
A terrified woman tried to push her child away from him, but he entered the park and motioned as if to attack her.
But he stopped, and instead ran to the pram, lunged twice at it, before running away for a few seconds.
Sickeningly, he then returned to lash out at the child again, though it is unclear if he managed to hurt the youngster as the pram rolled then out of his reach.
He then ran away again briefly, ran back to the child and appeared to try attack again, while the woman with the pram tried to stop him.
Shockingly, he then calmly walked out of the play park until he ran to escape the pursuit of a man who tried to give chase.
‘Very young children fighting for life’ after knife attack at French playground
Foreign secretary James Cleverly confirmed one of the victims was British.
"Our thoughts are with the victims and the families and we stand ready to support the French authorities in whichever way we can," he said.
"Also aware that one of the people, one of the children injured, was a British national. We have already deployed British consular officials who are travelling to the area to make themselves available to support the family.
"And of course we stand in strong solidarity with the people of France at this terrible time."
Prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said one child aged three and a 22-month-old child were among the injured. Besides the British child, there is a Dutch national among the victims.
French police earlier said on Thursday two of the children who were aged about three and had life-threatening injuries, as well as one adult.
Eleanor Vincent, an American tourist who arrived just after the attack, told LBC the jewel of a town had been "turned into hell".
"The police very systematically cordoning off the entire area, turning away people, this place is crawling with tourists right now. It's peak season," she said.
"People were trying to access the area with their bicycles, there's a bike path that goes past right where this took place, and the police were turning them away, and they started cordoning off more areas of the lake so you couldn't walk anywhere.
"It really shut down everything that was happening at the lake in that area of the city."
The man is a Syrian with refugee status in Sweden, where he had been for about 10 years. He has not got any known links to Islamist groups and was trying to claim asylum in France.
Le Parisien said he arrived in France in November and would have declared himself a Christian. He had a cross on him at his arrest.
Rishi Sunak said: "The UK and France have always stood together against acts of violence, and we do so again today."
French president Emmanuel Macron said: "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 mobilised."
France's interior minister said "has been arrested thanks to the rapid reaction of security forces".
The French National Assembly held a minute's silence.
Witnesses told Le Dauphine that a man wearing a turban began attacking the group of young children while they were playing at a small playground in Annecy.
"We saw a person attacking children, small ones, obviously that was his target. After people tried to scare him, he walked away and the police intervened."
A witness at the scene told France Bleu Pays de Savoie: "He spoke English. In the beginning, we all thought it was staged, but with the cries of people, we realise that it's reality, the guy was confused."
Antoine Armand, a member of Parliament for Haute-Savoie, Annecy's department, also condemned the attack saying, it was "abominable".
He continued: "Abominable knife attack on children in a playground in Annecy. We still know very little but all my support for the victims, relatives, law enforcement and rescue. With you in mind."
