Man suspected of mowing down French soldiers shot and captured after car chase
Six left injured, three seriously, after ‘lone wolf’ attack in Paris suburb
A suspected lone wolf attacker who mowed down French soldiers was taken into custody yesterday after he was shot following a dramatic car chase.
Six French soldiers were injured, three seriously, when they were rammed by a car in what was described as a deliberate attack. None is believed to be in a life-threatening condition.
Anti-terrorist prosecutors are leading the investigation, suggesting French authorities believe the attack is linked to extremism.
The unnamed attacker, who is believed to be in his thirties, was seriously wounded when police intercepted him as he attempted to escape by driving along the motorway towards the northern port of Calais.
The BMW is said to have hit other vehicles during the chase and several ambulances attended the scene.
As he attempted to flee he was shot several times before police were able to arrest him. One officer was hit by a bullet.
Images show a BMW car – the model used in the attack – punctured with several bullet holes and the glass windscreen severely damaged.
The soldiers were attacked as they left their barracks to start a street patrol under the state of emergency imposed after recent terror attacks.
The driver, who is believed to have operated alone, appeared to have waited for them in a small side street near their base in the affluent Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. At about 8am local time, the car accelerated towards the soldiers when they were a few metres away, said interior minister Gerard Collomb, speaking outside the hospital where the three of the victims were being treated.
“This was a deliberate act, not an accident,” Mr Collomb said.
The attack occurred less than a kilometre from the headquarters of France’s domestic counterterrorism agency, the general directorate for internal security. A large number of troops have been based there since the launch of Operation Sentinel in the wake of attacks in Paris in 2015.
Jean-Claude Veillant, resident of an apartment building near the scene, witnessed part of the attack. “I heard a loud noise, the sound of scraping metal. Shortly after, I saw one of the badly wounded lying in front of the Vigipirate (army patrol) vehicle and another one behind it receiving treatment,” he said.
There were unconfirmed reports that the BMW had hit a military vehicle first, pushing it into the soldiers.
Florence Parly, the defence minister, denounced “with the greatest firmness this cowardly act”. The attack was proof that the 7,000-strong Sentinel force “was more necessary than ever,” she said.
The attack came 24 hours after Ms Parly had announced plans to extend Operation Sentinel. France has been in a state of emergency since November 2015, with soldiers patrolling near schools, places of worship, tourist attractions and other potential targets.
Soldiers and police have themselves become targets with attacks against them in Nice in southern France, Valence in central France, at the Louvre and at Paris Orly airport in the past two and a half years.
Last Saturday, a man tried to force his way into the Eiffel Tower with a knife, shouting “Allahu Akbar”. It has been reported that he told investigators he wanted to kill a soldier.
Patrick Balkany, the mayor of Levallois-Perret, said: “This is an intolerable, incomprehensible act. It is an odious act. [The BMW] was visibly waiting for them when they left to go to their vehicle.”
Prime minister Edouard Philippe confirmed that the man apprehended was the chief suspect who drove straight at the soldiers in a dark-coloured BMW.
“A suspect who was driving the car involved in the attack has been arrested on the highway between Paris and Boulognesur-Mer,” Mr Philippe told parliament .
Although there has been no official end date for the state of emergency, French newspaper Le Monde reported earlier this summer that president Emmanuel Macron’s government wanted to draw an end to it, in favour of integrating several of its anti-terrorism powers into common law.
There have been 239 people killed in terrorist attacks in France since January 2015.
Jihadists have used vehicles as weapons on several occasions, notably on July 14, last year in Nice when 86 people died after a lorry ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, France’s national holiday.
Soldiers and police have become targets in France with a series of attacks in the last two and a half years