A mother and her three daughters have been stabbed in an attack at a holiday village, according to French authorities.

An eight-year-old girl is believed to be fighting for her life after suffering a punctured lung in the attack in Garde-Colombe in the Hautes-Alpes region at around 10am on Tuesday.

The girl's mother, 46, was reportedly stabbed in the chest and is in a serious condition, while her sisters, aged 12 and 14, were also taken to hospital.

Their alleged attacker - also reportedly a guest at the resort - is said to have attacked the three girls on the terrace of their apartment before going inside to stab the mother.

Some French media reports have suggested the attacker was angry at the way the family were dressed - although the regional prosecutor Raphael Balland told the AFP news agency the motive was unclear and "no religious statement had been made".


The 37-year-old suspect - said to be of Moroccan origin - was arrested by two police reservists after trying to escape in his car and is being held in the nearby town Gap.

According to French broadcaster TF1, the man was not known to the security services or flagged to authorities as a highly dangerous individual or terror suspect.

Garde-Colombe's mayor Edmond Francou told Le Parisien the man's family had suggested he might have psychological problems.

He said: "The attacker was in the holiday village with his two children and he fled after the attack, leaving his family. His wife was in tears."

French prosecutors have started an attempted murder investigation.