Seven people were stabbed in the centre of the French city of Bordeaux on Wednesday night, with police saying that five of the victims were seriously injured.
The attacks all took place within just two hours, between 11:30 pm and 1:30 am on Thursday, but so far police have not stated whether or not the attacks are linked.
The first attack saw a 25-year-old man stabbed at the Place Meynard at 11:30 pm. He was quickly rushed to a local hospital where he was treated for his injuries and was said to be in a serious condition.
Just half an hour later another 25-year-old was stabbed a short distance from the first attack. A few minutes later, a 27-year-old man was stabbed at the Place Jean-Jaurès, Le Parisien reports.
While all seven stabbing attacks took place within just a few miles of each other, investigators have been tight-lipped on a possible connection between them. They were not immediately able to arrest any suspects in connection with the attacks.
Five German Cities See Stabbing Attacks On Same Day https://t.co/EcSaja1HwU
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 21, 2019
The attacks come just months after a mass stabbing in Romans-sur-Isère saw two people killed and many others wounded when a Sudanese migrant randomly attacked passers-by while yelling “Allah hu Akbar”.
Mass stabbings have become a more common form of terror attack in Europe, but the attacks also come as tensions between rival criminal gangs across France have risen in recent weeks.
In the city of Dijon, members of the Chechen and North African communities clashed for several days earlier this month after the brutal assault of the Chechen teen that was attributed to North Africans.
The violence eventually subsided but became a national news story, with President Emmanuel Macron promising to deport any migrants who were involved in the multi-day violence.
Random acts of violence are also a problem in France with some estimating as many as 777 random acts, or ‘violences gratuites’, taking place every day. A stabbing attack in Paris in 2018 that injured six people, for instance, was described as having a purely random motivation.
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