Paris attack: Police hunt for car driven at soldiers

Updated August 9, 20172 Mins read418

Soldiers secure the street near the scene where French soldiers were hit and injured by a vehicle in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, France, on 9 August 2017 — Image caption The alleged attacker is said to have been waiting in his BMW car outside the military barracks

A car has struck a group of soldiers in Paris, injuring six, two seriously, police say.

An urgent police operation is now under way to find the vehicle – reportedly a BMW – and driver involved in the incident in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret.

The Paris prosecutor says the anti-terror unit is investigating what happened.

France has been under a state of emergency since November 2015.

On 13 November, 130 people were killed in a night of carnage in Paris, and more than 100 more have been killed in jihadist attacks since.

They include a string of assaults on the heavily armed security forces who now dot the streets of the capital – the last only four days ago.

While the hunt for the perpetrator continues, the Paris prosecutors’ office said its anti-terrorism unit was looking into “attempted killings… in relation to a terrorist undertaking”.

Wednesday’s attack at about 08:15 local time (06:15 GMT) took place outside a military barracks on the Place de Verdun in Levallois-Perret, the local mayor, Patrick Balkany, told BFMTV.

He said he had no doubt that the “disgusting” act was deliberate.

View Table of Contents

Car ‘lay in wait’

He said a 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.”

A resident in a nearby block of flats, Jean-Claude Veillant, told reporters he saw 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.

The injured soldiers are being treated at the Percy military hospital in Clamart, but their precise condition has not been made public.

Recent attacks on Paris security services

Image copyright EPA

Last Saturday, a young man tried to force his way into the Eiffel Tower with a knife, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest). A source said he told investigators he wanted to kill a soldier
In June, police shot a man who attacked an officer with a hammer outside the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris
In April, an attacker shot dead a policeman on the Champs-Elysees. The assailant, later named as convicted criminal Karim Cheurfi, was shot dead by security forces
In February, a man armed with a machete attacked a security patrol at Paris’s Louvre Museum

Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning

Are you in the area? Did you witness the attack in Paris? Send your experiences and images to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

You can also contact us in the following ways: