France: Less than week after Trebes attack, man tries to run car through soldiers’ group

In the wake of the heart-breaking Trebes incident where a policeman was killed after he volunteered his life in exchange for a hostage, France witnessed almost another tragedy early on Thursday morning. This happened as a man tried to run his car into a group of 10 soldiers who were out for the morning jog near their barracks in south-eastern France.

The soldiers, who belong to the 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment, avoided the vehicle in Varces-Allières-et-Risset near the city of Grenoble.

Police were frantically searching for the driver who accelerated to flee the spot after the failed attempt. It was reported that the car was a stolen Peugeot 208. The motive of the action was yet to be ascertained. The local civic authorities said the people were advised to keep their children indoors as the man who attacked the soldiers was still to be apprehended.

Others reports said the man had earlier threatened a group of soldiers near the same place verbally and then attempted to run over another group which was returning from a jog. Security was beefed up around the barracks.

The incident happened less than a week after the taking of hostages at a supermarket in the town of Trebes near Carcassonne in southern France.

Last week, one Radouane Lakdim killed a passenger in a car and then fired at the local policemen out for the jog, injuring one. He later killed two more persons at a supermarket and sought the release of a suspect of the 2015 Paris terror attack in lieu of a hostage. It was then when Lt Col Arnaud Beltrame swapped himself for the hostage and was killed. The 25-year-old gunman, who claimed to be representing the Islamic State, was later shot dead by the police.

OneIndia News