A British toddler is fighting for her life after a knifeman stormed a playground in France. The three-year-old was on holiday with her family and had visited the park near Lake Annecy, in the Alps, on Thursday morning (June 8).
Abdelmasih Hanoun, 31, now faces attempted murder charges following the assaults. He first targeted two French cousins named as Ennio and Alba, both two, and then attacked Ettie, a three-year-old English girl on holiday with her parents, and Peter, a 22-month-old Dutch boy, reports the Mirror.
On Friday, Ennio and Alba remained in hospital in the nearby city of Grenoble, where their condition was described as ‘critical’. Ettie was in the same hospital and her condition was ‘stable’, while Peter was also ‘stable’ having been transferred to a specialist medical unit in Geneva.
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Line Bonnet-Mathis, the Annecy Prosecutor who is leading the investigation into the crimes, said: ‘We are dealing with very young victims whose state of health is still extremely fragile. All are in intensive care.’
Two adults were also slashed with a knife by Hanoun – Manuel, 70, and Yusuf, 78, who was also hit by police bullet in error. Hanoun himself was also treated after being shot by police before his arrest, but was still well enough to talk to officers.
He described himself as a ‘Syrian-Christian’, who was filmed saying ‘In the name of Jesus Christ’ throughout the attack, said an investigating source. The divorced father of a three-year-old girl was refused asylum in France six days ago and faced being deported.
Despite this, he had been sleeping rough in Annecy, with no attempt by the authorities to monitor his movements. The attacker had no criminal or psychiatric history, authorities said yesterday.
According to the French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, there was also no evidence of a terrorist motive. Local media reports and footage of the incident showed that he shouted "in the name of Jesus Christ" as he carried out the rampage wearing shorts, sunglasses and a scarf around his head. .
The shocking clip shows the attacker prowling through the playground as people wail for help in the background. He holds a knife aloft in his hand as he circles the area, and one stage takes the blade to a child in a buggy, where an adult woman attempts to intervene before he makes multiple stabbing motions.
She then pushes him away before rushing over to look inside the pram. The attacker is later seen being chased by an adult male, where play equipment including a slide and a rope climbing wall are visible behind him.
The video also showed a moment of incredible heroism, as a bystander chased down the knifeman before throwing his bag at him, trying anything to stop the slaughter. When the attacker goes to leave the playground, the man - hailed by Twitter users as a hero - continues to pursue him.
One witness claims the suspect spoke in English before the stabbing frenzy, which saw him wield a blade at a youngster in a pram. Another eyewitness who spoke to broadcaster BFMTV said he saw first-aiders working on "little bodies".
Eyewitnesses said members of the public had yelled and pleaded with officers to shoot the suspect as he carried out the stabbings.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed that a British child was amongst those injured during the shocking attack. He tweeted: "The attack in Annecy today, injuring young children, was an act of cowardice."
Mr Cleverly's comments echoed those of Emmanuel Macron, who added that "children and an adult are between life and death".
"The nation is in shock," he said.. "We're ready to support in whatever way we can."
Describing how the attack started, an eye witness named Ferdinand told BFM TV: "He jumped (in the playground), started shouting and then went towards the strollers, repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife."
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."
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