Two French schoolgirls aged six and 11 are stabbed by knifeman near their school

Two schoolgirls aged six and 11 were injured in a knife attack close to their school in the east of France today. 

The six-year-old was attacked by a man after he stabbed the 11-year-old outside her school in Souffelweyersheim, just outside Strasbourg, officials said.

Both received superficial wounds, police said, and are being treated in a paediatric hospital.

Parents were later in the afternoon allowed to pick up their children, who had been confined to the school in the immediate aftermath of the attack. 

Police added the attacker did not appear to have any known links to radicals and was not previously known to the security services.

Gendarmes investigate in the premises of a school in the eastern France after two girls were wounded in a knife attack outside the school on April 18, 2024

Gendarmes stand guard outside the school in eastern France after reports of stabbings

Police investigate around a school in the eastern France city of Souffelweyersheim on April 18

The attacker, born in 1995, was arrested in the area where he attacked the second girl, the police said. 

He no longer had the knife in his hand and did not resist arrest, it added.

'I'm really scared. We've been reassured that the children are safe inside, but we don't know when we'll be able to get them back,' Sarah, a mother of an eight-year-old pupil, told AFP before the green light was given to collect the children.

'A friend called me. She saw the commotion in front of the school as she passed by. Her reflex was to call me so that I could pick up my son.'

There was no indication so far that the attacker had a link with the school. 

The attack came as Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a series of measures aimed at cracking down on violence committed by schoolchildren against their peers. 

France recently set up mobile security forces for schools under pressure from external threats amid rising tensions over a nationwide ban on wearing religious clothing in the classroom.

While the motive for the stabbing of the two girls was unclear, Education Minister Nicole Belloubet last month promised to 'guarantee... triple security' with new 'physical, digital and legal' measures amid outcry over pupils in dozens of schools receiving 'serious threats' via online portals.

However, the security outfits would be deployed only after receiving reports of 'an acute crisis around an establishment' within 48 hours in order to 'strengthen local resources'.

France has been shaken by a slew of terror threats in high schools across the country in recent weeks, with the headteacher of a Paris school forced to resign following death threats for requesting a pupil remove her Islamic head-covering in line with France's secular law.

Police have since been ordered to patrol the Maurice-Ravel Lycée in eastern Paris in light of the controversial resignation of the head of the Maurice Ravel Lycée.

Prime minister Gabriel Attal has since vowed to bring a complaint against the student and two others at the Maurice-Ravel Lycée for slander and false accusations.

France, which introduced its ban on religious clothing in schools in a bid to preserve secular tradition two decades ago, remains steadfast in efforts to preserve the ban while protecting teachers and children.

Pupils and parents gather outside a school among police forces in Souffelweyersheim after two girls were wounded in a knife attack outside the school on April 18

Parents collect their children with police forces and firefighters standing by, on April 18

Mr Attal said last month that the country was raising its security alert to the highest level after the Moscow concert hall attack.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the atrocity on March 22, which saw gunmen storm a public event and fire indiscriminately at civilians with automatic weapons, killing at least 143.

Up to 45,000 French police and gendarmes are now set to be deployed each day during the Olympics this summer, while 18,000 troops are also expected to be mobilised, according to government figures.

Another 18,000-22,000 private security guards will be on the ground for the Games, which run from July 26 to August 11.

The latest threats follow a flurry of false bomb alerts targeted schools, airport and tourist sites in autumn 2023.