2 killed, 7 injured in knife attack in southeast France

A knife attacker killed two people and injured seven others on Saturday morning in Romans-sur-Isere in the Department of Drome, southeast France, French media reported.

Four of the injured are in "absolute emergency". The attacker, who had no ID papers with him, was arrested.

France's national counter-terrorism prosecutor's office announced on Saturday that it has opened an investigation of terrorism connection into the knife attack that left two dead and several injured earlier in the country's southeastern region.

"The initial investigations have revealed a murderous course determined to seriously disturb public order by intimidation or terror," said the office in a press release.

It added that during a search of the suspect's home, "handwritten documents with religious overtones, in which the author of the lines complains in particular of living in a country of unbelievers," were found.

Therefore, the office has opened an investigation, notably for "assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise" and "association with terrorist criminals."

The suspect is a man born in 1987, of Sudanese origin, said the office.

At around 11 a.m., the suspect attacked several people with a knife in the street and in shops in Romans-sur-Isere, a city some 100 km south of Lyon. At the moment of his arrest, the man was kneeling and praying in Arabic, according to reports in French media.