Paris: Man Shot After Driving Car into Soldiers
Police have shot and wounded a man after a dramatic car chase following an attack on soldiers.
Paris is on a heightened state of alert after a man drove his BMW into a group of soldiers in a suburb of the capitol on Wednesday, August 9, at about 8:15 local time. Police followed the man through the streets in a dramatic car chase that ended in police shooting and wounding the man.
Six soldiers were wounded after the car drove into them outside their barracks in Levallois-Perret. The local mayor, Patrick Balkany, said the vehicle had been waiting in the road for the soldiers to emerge as they came on duty.
“It was a BMW, which accelerated very quickly the moment they came out,” Balkany said.
Two of them were seriously wounded and all were taken to the hospital. None of their injuries seem to be life threatening.
The Paris prosecutor described the attack as “attempted killings… in relation to a terrorist undertaking.”
Paris has been in a state of emergency since November 2015 when 130 people were killed in a night of carnage in Paris. More than 100 people have been killed in jihadist attacks since, including attacks on heavily armed security forces who now dot the streets of the capitol.
The last attack on soldiers in Paris was only four days ago on August 5.