THE knifeman who stabbed four kids in a French playground was recently separated and has a child close in age to his victims.
The 31-year-old attacker, identified as Abdalmasih H, launched his “abominable” rampage in a park in Annecy yesterday before being slammed to the ground by cops.
The knifeman stabbed four young children aged between one and three – including a British girl– in a barbaric attack in the Alpine holiday hotspot.
Abdalmasih H is a dad to a three-year-old himself.
His application for asylum is thought to have been declined four days before the attack.
Abdalmasih, originally from northeastern Syria, had recently separated from his wife, 26, who he was living with in Sweden.
The couple had the three-year-old together.
The wife said: “He called me around four months ago. He was living in a church.”
BFMTV reported that the suspect was “homeless”.
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said Abdalmasih H appeared to have acted alone and has no criminal or psychiatric record.
Responding to the bloodbath, Borne said: “Our whole country is in shock.
“We are talking here about infants, very young infants who have been very seriously injured.
“We are absolutely shaken by all this and we are standing firm by the people of Annecy.”
The Brit girl injured in the horror was on a family holiday in the French Alps resort.
The girl was among four toddlers – the youngest just 22 months old – who were attacked, along with two adults.
She was taken to hospital in Grenoble.
All the youngsters suffered life-threatening injuries but were said to be stable last night.
The youngest victim is a Dutch toddler aged just 22 months old.
The two other children – both from France and described as cousins – are two and three.
The adult victims were both men, aged 70 and 78, with the latter said to be looking after his grandchild at the park when horror broke out.
Chilling video showed a bearded knifeman wearing a headscarf and sunglasses plunging a blade into prams at Le Pâquier park.
Witnesses said he was shouting “In the name of Jesus Christ” during his 9.45am rampage.
A local restaurant owner, named only as George, said: “Mothers were crying, everybody was running.”
Others said pram-pushing parents yelled “go away” and “police”.
Brave locals used rucksacks as makeshift stab vests and chased the man away from prams.
Onlookers said that after four minutes of mayhem police shot the suspect and pinned him to the floor. A witness said: “The man was shouting in English.
“He wanted to hurt as many people as he could.
“The young children were just easy targets.”
Another witness said: “He started screaming, he walked towards the prams and started repeatedly stabbing the little ones.
“When he saw he was surrounded by police, he went straight for an elderly man and his wife. He stabbed the man.”
Abdalmasih H, 31, was injured and taken to hospital.
The adult victims were both men, aged 70 and 78.
The 70-year-old was critical after being stabbed in the neck and accidentally shot by police.
Ex-Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec, 38, was jogging around a lake when he saw people running the other way.
He said: “A mother said, ‘Run, run, there is someone stabbing everyone all along the lake.
They are stabbing children, run run!’”
Le Tallec added: “I continued then suddenly the guy appeared in front of me. I saw the police ten metres behind him but they hadn’t managed to get him yet.
“He was so near to me so I got out of the way.
“He wanted to attack everyone. I moved away and he lunged at an old man and woman and stabbed the old man.”
Le Tallec claimed police then shot the suspect.
He said: “I said to the police, shoot him, he is stabbing everyone!
“He attacked, once, twice and then they started to shoot, they shot in front of me, at the person, he fell to the ground.
“Then I saw in front of the lake, children on the ground — so very sad.
“But the police, the slowness, that’s what I noticed, the slowness was incredible, the slowness to trigger something (shoot). The guy had the time to stab the dad twice.
“He spoke English. At the beginning. We all thought it was staged, but with the cries of people, we realised it was reality.”
A man told broadcaster BFMTV he saw first aiders working on “little bodies, three or four years old”.
Annecy prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said Abdalmasih was being investigated for attempted murder, but added: “There is no evidence at this point to suggest a terrorist motive.”
Sources said the suspect was not known to security services.
Witnesses claimed he had been staking out the area in previous days.
He is believed to have spent ten years in Trollhattan, Sweden, with his wife, 26, before they separated eight months ago. The couple had the three-year-old together.
The wife said: “He called me around four months ago. He was living in a church.”
Abdalmasih is said to have been carrying a prayer book and cross at the time of his arrest.
Documents at the time of his application for asylum in Sweden stated he was a Syrian Christian who had lived an “orderly life”.
But he was fined and given a suspended sentence after being found illegally claiming benefits.
A third attempt at gaining Swedish citizenship was rejected last summer so he travelled to France under EU rules of free movement.
Around 37 witnesses were given psychological help for shock.
PM Rishi Sunak said: “All our thoughts are with those affected by this unfathomable attack, including a British child.
“I have been in touch with President Macron to offer any assistance we can.”
Mr Macron called it “absolute cowardice”, adding: “The nation is shocked.”
Annecy MP Antoine Armand added: “It’s abominable, unspeakable — pure horror.”
