Three children are in a life-threatening condition after a knife attack in southeast France, police have said.

Eight children and one adult have been injured in total, officers added.

The youngsters are all about three years of age, police said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said a suspect had been arrested “thanks to the swift intervention of police”.

It happened in the French town of Annecy, he added, not far from the Swiss border.

The attack happened in a park and the assailant was a Syrian asylum seeker, BFM TV reported.