Paris police arrest man who wounded three women with knives

A French off-duty policeman on Monday detained a man after he allegedly attacked and wounded three women in Paris with two kitchen knives, a minister and police said.

The identity of the suspect and his motive were not immediately clear.

Three women aged 19, 24 and 36 were taken to hospital after the assault at around 11:30 am (0930 GMT) in the Porte de Clichy area in the north of the capital, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Paris police said.

Two were seriously wounded but in critical condition, Nunez said. One was hit in the lower back, the other in the abdomen.

The mayor of the northwest 17th district where the stabbings occurred, Geoffroy Boulard, said on X that one of the three was pregnant.

Nunez said the suspect was "apprehended by an off-duty police officer".

Waitress Kheira Dellabed, 54, said she was washing dishes at the time of the stabbing.

"We saw a man walk by with two knives and stab three people," she said.

"Then a young man with a small suitcase hit him with his bag, knocking him to the ground," she added. A waiter from a nearby restaurant then put a chair "on him".

The suspect had made "incoherent statements", Nunez said, warning however against jumping to conclusions as to his motives.

The attack came after an Islamist radical on Saturday in the German capital of Berlin ploughed a rented minivan into a Pride parade, killing one woman and wounding 29.