France lauds ‘backpack hero’ who fought knife attacker; victims stable

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ANNECY: Two toddlers gravely wounded by a knife-wielding Syrian refugee in the French mountain town of Annecy were in a stable condition on Friday, President Emmanuel Macron said as he visited a hospital in Grenoble where three of the four children are being treated.

Well-wishers laid flowers on Friday at the playground where the attack took place. The nation also paid tribute to a modern-day pilgrim, Henri, on a walking tour of France’s cathedrals who tried to block the assailant using his backpack during the attack and then gave him a chase. Four kids and two pensioners were wounded during the assault.