Five people injured with two in critical condition after mass stabbing in French city
Google StreetView
Local reports claim the altercation involved Afghan migrants
Additional reporting by Holly Bishop
Five people have been injured - with two in critical condition - after a mass stabbing in the French city of Metz.
The incident is reported to have taken place outside a grocery store in the Borny district of the city in the northeast of France.
The attack took place around 10.15am and the victims are all reported to be young people.
The perpetrators have allegedly fled the scene and are now on the run, with police actively looking for them.
Local media has reported that the incident involved Afghan migrants who were in a dispute, withRépublicain Lorrain mentioning a "settling of scores".
A vehicle linked to the incident was found by investigators on rue des Feivres in Metz.
Police at the scene assisted one of the injured, who had serious wounds, by applying a tourniquet.
Four ambulances and around fifteen men from the fire brigade were also sent to assist.
FRANCE LATEST:
"The terrorist hypothesis is excluded at this stage," Metz prosecutor Yves Badorc told AFP, who was unable to provide any other information.
In April, an Afghan migrant stabbed two people in France after he became angry upon seeing them drink alcohol during Eid.
The man fatally stabbed one person and wounded another on April 10 in the French southwestern city of Bordeaux.
Police shot and killed the assailant minutes later as he threatened them with a knife. The incident happened in a central area of Bordeaux which is popular with tourists.
The incident took place in the city of Metz
Wikimedia Commons
Bordeaux public prosecutor Frédérique Porterie told journalists: "The attacker reproached the victims for drinking alcohol during Eid [the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan]."
"They told him it was none of his business, and he punched them before walking away. They threw cans at him and he returned and took out a knife."
Le Monde reports that a man wearing "a qamis and a keffiyeh covering his face and revealing only his eyes," approached and spoke to two men aged 26 and 37, both born in Algeria, who were drinking beers.