Horrifying new video shows the moment a knifeman prowled around a playground after stabbing children in their prams.
A three-year-old British girl on holiday with her family was among the victims when suspect H Abdalmasih struck close to the town of Annecy in the east of France on Thursday morning.
Four children and two adults were seriously injured when the 32-year-old attacker targeted his young victims "indiscriminately" in a playground.
Three of the victims, including the British girl, are said to be in a life-threatening condition in hospital, with the youngest confirmed to be just 22 months old.
The Annecy prosecutor said: "Their state of health is extremely fragile, today they are still in intensive care."
Witnesses described how onlookers yelled and pleaded with officers to shoot the suspect as he carried out the stabbings.
Abdalmasih was rushed to hospital along with the six victims following a struggle with police. His motive is not yet known, and investigators say the incident is not being treated as terror related.
Shocking footage from the scene shows the attacker wandering the playground as people call out 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.
Annecy public prosecutor, Line Bonnet-Mathis, later details on the ages of the child victims of the knife attack. One of them is 22 months old, two others are two years old, and a fourth is three years old.
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."
Footballer Anthony Le Tallec took to Instagram to share how a woman told him to "run" away as the bloodbath unfolded.
He explained in French that he was "out running along the edge of the lake" when he suddenly saw "around 10 people running in the opposite direction".
Describing what happened next, he said: "Suddenly a mum shouts at me, ‘Run, run, someone is stabbing everyone along the lake, he has stabbed children, run, run’.
"I was a bit surprised so I kept going and then I see the guy arrive in front of me on the grass, and I see police about 5-10m behind, who can’t catch him."
"He came toward me and I stood to the side, and I see he headed straight to some old men and women.
In the moments that followed, he said the suspect outran police and stabbed an old man, leading her to plea with officers to take quick action
"I told the police,”shoot him, kill him! He’s stabbing everyone”, he said.
"He attacked the old man once, twice and then they started shooting - they shot him in front of me and he fell to the ground, but the old man was already stabbed."
He also described the police's response as 'slow', and claimed the amount of time it took for them to shoot the suspect gave him time to stab the man twice.
Others recalled the man speaking English around the time of the attack, reportedly shouting: "In the name of Jesus Christ".
Fanny, a witness in the park, told BFMTV it is usually a peaceful, family-friendly space to relax.
"This is the best-known park in Annecy. This is where all activities take place and where all young residents of Annecy meet. It’s a very peaceful place and I’ve never heard of an attack. It’s astonishing", she said.
The attack has been widely condemned. A debate was interrupted in the French Assembly on Thursday morning to hold a moment's silence for the victims.
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."
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed later on Thursday that a British child was among the several injured during the attack.
He tweeted: "The attack in Annecy today, injuring young children, was an act of cowardice,"
"We're ready to support in whatever way we can."
Speaking in a press conference in the afternoon, Franch Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said H Abdalmasih was a Syrian national who held refugee status in Sweden.
He had also applied for asylum in France but found his application recently 'overridden' by his existing claim in Sweden. A public prosecutor added that the suspect had a child around the same age of one of his victims.
The 32-year-old was not known to security forces and had no known criminal or psychiatric record in France.
