At least two British visitors to Paris were among seven victims of a savage knife attack in the French capital, police said today.
A suspect ‘of Pakistani or Afghan origin’ began ‘slashing passers-by’ on the Loire Quay in the north of the city on Sunday night.
It runs along the Villette Canal Basin, which was full of people enjoying hot late summer weather when the assailant struck.
He first stabbed three people outside the MK2 cinema complex, ‘including two English tourists’, according to an investigating source.
One was particularly badly hurt by ‘a stab in the head’, while the other was ‘cut in the chest’.
He injured four others, before a police night patrol appeared, and arrested the unnamed man at the scene.
The case is being investigated by judicial police, with Paris prosecutors opening an official enquiry.
A judicial source said there was no initial indication that the attack was linked to terrorism.
The victims were all rushed to local hospitals, where their conditions were described as ‘serious but not life threatening’.
The attacker is not thought to have been badly injured by officers.
The Foreign Office said: We are urgently investigating this incident and are in close contact with the French authorities.