Paris stabbing: Two UK tourists among seven injured in knife attack outside cinema

No initial indication assault is linked to terror, authorities say

Police investigators work on the scene after seven people were wounded in knife attack in Paris, 10 September (Reuters)

Two UK tourists are reported to be among seven people injured in a stabbing attack in Paris.

Four of the seven were seriously hurt in the rampage which took place in the French capital’s 19th arondissement on Sunday night, according to local reports.

A man armed with a knife and an iron bar is said to have attacked people on the banks of a canal in the north-east of the city at just after 11pm local time.

Le Parisien and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency both reported that two British tourists had been hurt.

Police have arrested one man, who Le Parisien reported was an Afghan national.

There was no initial indication the assault was linked to terrorism. “Nothing at this stage shows signs of a terrorist nature in these assaults,” a source told AFP, saying the man had targeted “strangers in the street”.

A police spokesperson said the attack took place near a cinema.

The Paris prosecutor’s office is overseeing the investigation, as authorities attempt to determine whether the attacker had been counted among the seven people injured.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement: “We are urgently investigating this incident and are in close contact with the French authorities.”

Additional reporting by agencies