A man armed with two kitchen knives attacked three women in Paris on Monday morning, seriously wounding two of them, before bystanders intervened and an off-duty police officer made the arrest. The attack took place at around 11:30am local time in the Porte de Clichy area, a neighbourhood in the north of the French capital near the 17th arrondissement. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed the victims' ages as 19, 24 and 36, saying two were hospitalised in serious condition — one struck in the lower back, the other in the abdomen. The district's mayor, Geoffroy Boulard, added that one of the three women was pregnant.

Eyewitnesses described a chaotic scene as the attacker, a man with long black hair wearing a cream tracksuit, ran through the street wielding a large knife in each hand. A waitress working nearby said she saw him stab three people in quick succession before a bystander struck him with a small suitcase, knocking him to the ground. A waiter from a neighbouring restaurant then pinned him further by placing a chair on top of him. One of those who helped restrain the man, Mohamed-Ali Bouhadjar, 26, told reporters he had shouted for people to intervene after seeing the attacker stab a woman in the back.