The man suspected of carrying out the knife attack in the French town of Annecy had applied for asylum in Switzerland, Italy and France, said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
The suspect, a 31-year-old man originally from Syria, stabbed four children and two adults in a playground in the small French Alpine town of Annecy, located 40 kilometres south of Geneva, Switzerland.
The youngest victims are aged 22 to 36 months, one of whom is being treated by the Geneva University Hospitals HUG. The children are now in stable condition, officials have told the BBCExternal link.
A video circulating on social media shows the man, identified as Abdalmasih H., attacking six people with a folding knife, and raising his arms to the sky shouting in English “in the name of Jesus.”
The motives of the attack remain unclear, as there is “no apparent terrorist motivation,” said Annecy public prosecutor, Line Bonnet-Mathis. The alleged attacker underwent a psychiatric examination on Friday.
It appears that the man was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but he had been homeless in Annecy since autumn 2022. Father of a three-year-old, he had been granted asylum in Sweden in 2013, but after 10 years he was unable to obtain Swedish nationality.
He then separated from his wife and moved to France, where he “suffered from serious depression,” his mother told AFP.
Popular Stories
More
Workplace Switzerland
What lies ahead for Switzerland: an economic outlook for 2025
Have you heard something about Swiss diplomacy that you’d like us to fact check?
Not all information circulating about Switzerland’s foreign relations is accurate or well understood. Tell us what you'd like us to fact check or clarify.
Credit Suisse Nazi ties ‘ran deeper than thought’: media report
This content was published on
Credit Suisse is alleged to have withheld details of its historic links with World War II-era Nazi clients, says the Wall Street Journal.
Swiss man faces life imprisonment after Australia drugs arrest
This content was published on
Swiss man, 21, accused of attempting to smuggle 25 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of CHF4.5 million into Australia.
Swiss insurer Helvetia says 500 jobs affected by cost-cutting
This content was published on
Some 500 jobs, including 200 to 250 in Switzerland, are affected by the new operational efficiency measures recently announced by insurer Helvetia.
This content was published on
Significantly fewer new cars were sold in Switzerland in 2024 than the previous year as demand for electric cars and plug-in hybrids declined.
Three Swiss brands among world’s 100 most valuable firms
This content was published on
Three Swiss firms made it into the 2024 top 100 most valuable companies in the world, despite Roche, Nestlé and Novartis falling down the rankings.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Swiss woman indicted for jihadist terror stabbings in Lugano
This content was published on
Federal prosecutors have filed an indictment against a Swiss woman who stabbed two people in a Lugano department store in 2020.
Swiss authorities lose trace of two jihadists in Syria
This content was published on
The foreign ministry says it has no information on the whereabouts of two terror suspects who had been detained in northern Syria.
Assailant in Swiss knife attack was jihadist, say police
This content was published on
A woman has been arrested in Lugano after injuring two other women with a knife in a suspected terror attack at a department store.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.