The man was arrested at around 6.30am local time by a police officer as he was attacking passers-by with a knife in Mormant, a small town located 60km southeast of Paris, said the local public prosecutor.

One pedestrian was wounded in the arm and another in the neck, but their injuries were not life-threatening, public prosecutor Jean-Michel Bourles told AFP.

After the attacker was apprehended he said he had killed his wife and their two children, according to the public prosecutor and sources close to the case.

At the man’s home, the police found the bodies of his partner and their two children, aged five and 22 months.

Bourles said that the man had no criminal record, but had a history of mental illness. The attacker was taken to hospital to assess his condition.

On average, a woman is killed every three days in France.

According to the justice ministry, 94 women were killed by their partner or former partner in France in 2023, compared with 118 in 2022.

In 2023, more than 60 children were killed by their parents, according to the La Voix de l’Enfant (Voice of the Child) association.