French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived in the southeastern city of Grenoble, where three of the four injured children were being treated.
The French president was also due to visit those who have “contributed in helping and supporting them”, including a young Catholic pilgrim who came face to face with the assailant.
Investigators were trying to understand the motives behind the frenzied stabbing rampage in a playground in Annecy, a normally idyllic lakeside spot popular with foreign and domestic visitors.
One of the victims was British and another from the Netherlands. Two adults, elderly men both in their 70s, were also wounded. The youngest child wounded was just 22 months old and the oldest 36 months.
“From what I understand, there are still two children considered to be in critical condition,” government spokesman Olivier Véran told Franceinfo radio, confirming that surgical operations had taken place.
“There’s no obvious terrorist motive,” local prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis told reporters.
She said an investigation for attempted murder had been opened and that the suspect, named as Abdalmasih H, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The man spent the night in detention and should undergo a psychiatric examination on Friday.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said the suspect was “not known by any intelligence service” and did not have “any history of psychiatric problems”. — Agencies
