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(Image: DS)

The family are said to have been targeted in Garda-Colombe in the Hautes-Alpes.

Cops say the mum and girls aged eight, 12 and 14 were all targeted before the attacker fled the scene.

The eight-year-old is said to be in a critical condition and was airlifted to hospital in Grenoble with a punctured lung.

(Image: SG)

According to local media, Moroccan national Mohamed Boufarkouch, 37, was arrested a short time later at 10am (9am UK time).

He is said to be known to the police and gendarmerie.

Reports from France suggest he "may have acted out of religious motives".

Broadcaster TF1 reported he was angry that the girls were wearing shorts.

Eyewitnesses have said the woman and her daughters were having breakfast together when they were attacked.

(Image: SG)

It comes after a horrifying attack which saw a teenage refugee run amok on a busy commuter train in Germany with an axe and a knife.

In a seperate development police have arrested a 23-year-old cab driver after finding explosives at his home in the Seine-et-Marne district southeast of Paris, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said on Tuesday.

The man, already known to French intelligence services and listed among thousands of people in France's "Fiche S", a watchlist of people suspected of posing a security risk, was arrested on Sunday night.