Paris (France): Seven people, six of them children, sustained gruesome injuries in a mass stabbing attack in the town of Annecy in the French Alps on Thursday, security sources told AFP.

A man attacked the children, aged around three years old, playing in a park near a lake in the town at around 9:45 am local time, the report said quoting a source.

France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that the accused "has been arrested thanks to the rapid reaction of security forces".

Security sources told AFP that at least three of the injured are in a critical state.

Following the incident, the office of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was travelling to the scene to take stock of the situation.

The French parliament held a minute’s silence as the media broke the news of the attack.