A 33-year-old man has been arrested for a knife attack in the centre of Romans-sur-Isère

A man killed two people and injured at least five others – one of them critically – during an attack in a town in south-east France.

The man, 33, was said to have slit the throat of one of his victims in front of the man’s wife and son, in the centre of Romans-sur-Isère in the Drôme, 20km north of the town of Valence.

The mayor, Marie–Hélène Thoraval, told AFP the man had gone into the tobacconist in the centre of the town and attacked the owner. “His wife stepped in and was also injured,” she added.

The man then went into a second shop, a butcher’s, and took another knife.

“He came into the shop. He jumped over the counter, took the knife and stuck it in a customer, then he ran out,” Ludovic Breyton, the owner of the butcher’s said. “My wife tried to help the victim, but there was nothing she could do.”

The man then attacked several passersby outside the local boulangerie.

“We have no idea why he carried out the attack,” Thoraval said.

The two dead were local men aged 44 and 55. At least one victim, a man aged 63, is reported to be in a critical condition in hospital. Four others, two men aged 65 and 59 and two women aged 48 and 49, were also injured and are in hospital.

The suspect, who put up no resistance when he was arrested by police around 11am on Saturday, was living in the centre of the town where he carried out the attack. Police told French media the arrested man is an asylum seeker from Sudan, aged 33, who was unknown to the police. He had arrived in France in 2017. Officers searched his home after the attacks and arrested his flatmate.

A statement from the local town hall read: “This Saturday 4 April morning an individual carried out a knife attack at several places in the centre of Romans-sur-Isère. The individual in question was arrested around 11am. According to initial information, two people have died, five others are injured and in a critical condition. At this moment, we do not know the motive for this act.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The French interior minister, Christophe Castaner, meets with police officers and local authorities at the scene of the attack in Romans-sur-Isère. Photograph: Alex Martin/EPA

Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “My thoughts go out to the victims of the attack in Romans-sur-Isère, the injured and their families. We will fully investigate this odious act that has added more grief to our country that has already suffered so much over the last few weeks.”

The anti-terrorist brigade has been called in to carry out the investigation.

The French interior minister, Christophe Castaner, who went to Romans-sur-Isère on Saturday, said: “This morning a man, engaged in a terrorist act, killed two people and injured five others.”