French police nab man over vehicle attack on soldiers

LEVALLOIS-PERRET: A man rammed his car into a group of soldiers near Paris, injuring six of them, and then was cornered by police in a highway manhunt.

It’s unclear what motivated the driver, hospitalized with bullet wounds after a calculated morning am bush and hours-long police chase. But authorities said he deliberately accelerated his BMW into a cluster of soldiers in what prosecutors are investigating as a potential terrorist attack.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government painted the incident in the suburb of Levallois-Perret as proof of the need to approve a new security law that critics fear infringes on liberties and puts the country in a permanent state of emergency.

Wednesday’ s attack caused no deaths and hurt no civilians, but still set nerve son edge—the seventh attempted attack on security forces guarding France this year alone.

Authorities checked video surveillance of the area and police fanned out and stopped numerous cars as they searched for the attacker. Then, on the A16 highway near the English Channel port of Calais, police stopped what the prime minister called the “principal suspect.”

Police officers opened fire during the arrest to sub due them an, and the suspect was injured along with an officer hit by a stray police bullet, according to a judicial official. AP