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
Swiss Abroad
Switzerland’s priciest street makes room for a bakery shop
Should raw milk sales be banned or should consumers decide?
Swiss food regulations do not allow raw milk to be sold for direct consumption. However, a loophole allows 400 raw milk vending machines to do just that.
Is artificial intelligence an advantage or a disadvantage for workers?
What is your experience with AI at work? Have you already used it? Has it helped you work better? Or has it caused you more stress, more work or caused you to lose your job? Tell us about your experiences!
Austrian right-wing extremist arrested by Swiss police
This content was published on
The Austrian right-wing extremist Martin Sellner entered Switzerland on Saturday despite being banned from entering the country.
All Swiss listed companies have a climate strategy
This content was published on
All major listed Swiss companies have a climate strategy. This puts Switzerland ahead of neighbouring Germany and Austria, says a study by Kirchhoff Consult and BDO.
Local birds are stars of this year’s Bern light show
This content was published on
The Rendez-vous Bundesplatz light show enters a new round on Saturday. This year, birds will be chirping, squawking and fluttering all over the façade of the federal parliament.
EU urges countries to keep demining in Ukraine permanently on the agenda
This content was published on
The Lausanne Ministerial Conference on Humanitarian Demining in Ukraine led to pledges from more than 40 countries to help the war-torn country.
This content was published on
Researchers at the University of Zurich have used artificial intelligence to detect antibiotic-resistant germs for the first time.
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.