Authorities say that seven people, including two British tourists, were injured — four of them seriously — in a stabbing rampage in Paris late Sunday night by a man identified as an Afghan national.
The attack began outside the MK2 theater where the suspect, armed with a 15-inch knife and an iron bar, reportedly stabbed two men and a woman. On a nearby street he then attacked more people, including two tourists from the U.K., stabbing one in the head and wounding the other in the chest.
Before he was arrested, the attacker managed to stab a total of seven people, injuring four seriously, the Independent reports.
“The 31-year-old attacker was using child identity documents issued to an Afghan minor, according to claims made by an investigating source,” The Sun reports.
Authorities say they do not suspect that the attack was an act of terrorism. “Nothing at this stage shows signs of a terrorist nature in these assaults,” a source told AFP, suggesting that the victims were chosen at random.
After the suspect began his rampage, over a dozen petanque players attempted to intervene, throwing metal petanque balls at the attacker.
“He was challenged by a group of petanque players who threw their metal balls at him,” one witness said, The Sun reports. “At least four of the balls hit him in the head, but they did not stop him carrying on with his rampage. It was then that the man cornered the two English tourists, who were unaware that he was carrying a knife.”
The stabbing spree finally came to an end when a plain-clothes police officer and a night patrolmen subdued the attacker.
“We are urgently investigating this incident and are in close contact with the French authorities,” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement Sunday.