appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Agence France-Presse

French security forces have shot and arrested a man suspected of being behind an attack on soldiers in a Paris suburb on Wednesday, security sources said.
The man, aged in his late 30s, was intercepted on a motorway north of the French capital in the vehicle used to drive into the soldiers, the sources said, asking not to be named because they were not authorised to speak.
One source close to the case said the man had been stopped at the wheel of a BMW driving towards the northern port of Calais.
A second legal source added: “The arrested individual, born in 1980, is suspected to be the culprit” of the assault in the Levallois-Perret area of Paris at around 8am.
“He was driving the vehicle we were looking for and tried to flee,” the source added, leading police to open fire.
Six soldiers were injured – none seriously – after a BMW quickly accelerated and struck them outside their barracks in a quiet street in the upmarket Levallois-Perret area.
The car sped off after the incident described by local mayor Patrick Balkany as “without doubt a deliberate act”.
Defence Minister Florence Parly condemned the car ramming as a “cowardly act”, saying it did “nothing to dent soldiers’ determination to work for the security of the French people”.
“Security forces are actively seeking the perpetrator who is on the run. The ongoing probe will determine his motives and the circumstances in which he acted,” Parly said.

France, which has been under a state of emergency since the November 2015 attacks in Paris, has seen a string of assaults on security forces, including those guarding key tourist sites.
IS has repeatedly said that France is a target because of its participation in the US-led international coalition fighting the jihadist group, with French jets carrying out air strikes against the extremist group in Syria.
“This morning, as a group of our soldiers were leaving their barracks to go out on patrol, a BMW vehicle parked in the alley rammed into them,” Balkany told news channel BFMTV, adding that the car had “accelerated very fast”.
The incident came just four days after Sentinelle soldiers arrested an 18-year-old with a history of psychological problems at the Eiffel Tower where he brandished a knife and shouting “Allahu akbar [God is great]”.
He told investigators he wanted to kill a soldier, sources close to the case told AFP.
In February, a man armed with a machete attacked four soldiers on patrol at Paris’s Louvre Museum, while in April another extremist shot and killed a policeman on the Champs Elysees, the French capital’s most famous boulevard.
In June, a 40-year-old Algerian doctorate student who had pledged allegiance to IS attacked a policeman with a hammer outside Notre Dame cathedral.

The wave of attacks in France has had a serious impact on tourism in the world’s top tourist destination, but the industry has begun to recover as incidents have become more widespread and generally less deadly.
With terror attacks hitting not just France but also Belgium, Britain and Germany, potential travellers show “a kind of fatalism”, said Josette Sicsic, head of Touriscopie, a firm that tracks tourist behaviour.
The French tourism ministry expects a five to six per cent increase in overall arrivals to France this year, for a new record of 89 million visitors.
Louvre attack suspect speaks to French investigators
The lowest point for Paris came at the end of March 2016 – four and a half months after the Paris attacks when IS jihadists targeted people enjoying an evening out at trendy eateries, a concert hall and the national stadium.
In a rebound that began at the end of 2016, Paris saw a record 2.6 million foreign arrivals in the first four months of this year – a 19 per cent increase over the same period last year.



Arrest made after car rams into six anti-terror soldiers outside Paris

Officials and rescuers gather near vehicles after a car slammed into soldiers on patrol in Levallois-Perret, outside Paris. Photo: AFP

Police work near the scene where French soliders were hit and injured by a vehicle in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, France, August 9, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Soldiers secure the street near the scene where French soliders were hit and injured by a vehicle in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, France, August 9, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Police and soldiers secure the scene where French soliders were hit and injured by a vehicle in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, France, August 9, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Three ‘fanatic’ women arrested over Notre Dame gas tanks were planning imminent attacks: French police

French policemen take part in a police raid in Boussy-Saint-Antoine near Paris, France, September 8, 2016. French police investigating the abandonment of a car packed with gas cylinders near Paris's Notre Dame cathedral last Saturday, arrested three women on Thursday evening, in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, some 30 km south-east of Paris. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

This picture taken on September 8, 2016 shows a row of houses from the neighbourhood where police picked up a second couple overnight in Chalette sur Loing, near Montargis, about 110 kilometres (65 miles) south of Paris, the day after several gas cylinders were found in a car near Paris's Notre Dame cathedral and considered to be connected to terrorism. French police investigating a car containing six gas canisters discovered near the Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris detained a second couple overnight. The detention raises to four the number of people held in connection with the abandoned Peugeot 607, which had no number plates and was spotted at the weekend by a bar employee working in the area that is hugely popular with tourists. / AFP PHOTO / GUILLAUME SOUVANT

French soldiers patrolling in front of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris . Photo: AFP

News

World

Europe