Six French soldiers on an anti-terrorism mission near Paris were struck by a man driving a BMW in the latest “deliberate” vehicular attack in the country, authorities say.
The driver was shot and wounded before being arrested. The incident is being investigated as a suspected terrorist attack, the sixth since 2015. The attacker is a North African man who lived in another suburb, officials told NBC.
“It was a BMW which accelerated very quickly the moment they came out,” said Patrick Balkany, the mayor of the Paris suburb where the attack took place, according to the BBC.
None of the French soldiers were in a life-threatening condition, authorities said. The driver had approached the soldiers at a slow pace before accelerating into the group once he got close.
“I heard a huge crash which I thought was the sound of scaffolding being put up,” Thierry Chappe, a Parisian who lives in the neighborhood, told AFP.
Another witness told BBC he “saw one of the badly wounded lying in front of the Vigipirate [army patrol] vehicle and another one behind it receiving treatment.”
France has been in a state of emergency over the threat of terrorism since 2015, when terrorists killed dozens of people in a late-night attack at the Bataclan concert venue in Paris. But vehicular attacks have grown in popularity as a terrorist tactic, particularly following an attack in Nice by a man who drove cargo truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day.
“Without a doubt this is a terrorist attack,” Balkany said.
