One dead, nine wounded in knife attack near French city of Lyon: Official

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A police officer stands guard as people gather in Villeurbanne on the outskirts of Lyon in south-eastern France on Aug 31, 2019, after a knife attack which has left one dead and six injured. PHOTO: AFP

LYON (AFP) - One person was killed and another nine wounded, three seriously, on Saturday (Aug 31) in a knife attack near the French city of Lyon, a regional official and emergency services said.

Two men, one armed with a knife and the other with a skewer, carried out the attack in Villeurbanne, a Lyon suburb, in south-eastern France, the official said, without giving further details on the motive for the stabbing.

One of the men had been arrested by police but the second was on the run. The attack took place close to a metro station.

An AFP journalist at the scene witnessed a body being taken away in an ambulance and traces of blood on the ground.

Last May, a parcel bomb in front of a baker's shop in central Lyon left 14 people slightly injured.

The perpetrator, a young radicalised Algerian, who was arrested three days later, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group, according to his confession.

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