A Syrian refugee screamed ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ as he repeatedly stabbed a toddler in his pram in front of his screaming mother in a frenzied attack at a French playground that saw four children – including a British girl – knifed.
The attacker, identified as Abdalmash H, 31, clinched onto a necklace with a crucifix on it before he launched his ‘abominable’ rampage in a lakeside park in the town of Annecy, a tourist hotspot in southeastern France, at around 9.45am.
Distressing video shows the attacker running into the small playground and repeatedly stabbing a toddler in his pram while his screaming mother tries to protect him from the attack.
Further dramatic footage shows the attacker, a recently divorced Syrian refugee who has declared himself a Christian, later being chased across the park by locals and cops before he was shot by a police officer and pinned to the ground.
Horrified witnesses say mothers ran past them screaming ‘run, run’ in the aftermath of the frenzied attack, which was condemned by President Emmanuel Macron as ‘absolute cowardice’.
Abdalmash H, who was recently divorced, had previously lived for 10 years in Sweden where he was granted refugee status in April, security sources and his ex-wife said.
‘He called me around four months ago. He was living in a church,’ his ex-wife said on condition of anonymity, saying he had left Sweden because he had been unable to get Swedish nationality.