Girl killed and five hurt as car smashes into pizzeria in France

A GIRL of eight died and five other people were seriously injured last night after a man drove his car into a pizzeria near Paris.

The incident took place in the town of Sept- Sorts, around 40 miles east of the French capital.

Reports last night suggested that the male driver ‘pulled up close to the restaurant’ in a BMW car, and then ‘deliber- ately targeted it’. A source close to the case said: ‘There were quite a lot of people on the terrace.

‘An eight-year- old girl was hit straight on, and died at the scene. At least five people are very seriously injured.

‘The man was arrested and is now with the police. There is a gendarmerie very close by. Anti-terrorist officers arrived on the scene very quickly.’ The pizzeria is in an area surrounded by other restaurants, and is popular with families.

It was initially feared that the crash was a terror incident, following a spate of similar vehicle attacks by Islamic State-affiliated jihadists.

However, the public prosecutor’s office in Meaux the act was ‘deliberate... but apparently has no connection with a terrorist act.’ The assailant will be questioned ‘when his condition allows’, a French government spokesman said.

France remains under a state of emergency following a long string of attacks.

Last week a man was shot by police five times after allegedly running down six soldiers with a hired BMW in a Paris suburb. The suspect, identified as Hamou Bachir, a 36year-old Algerian, was caught in Levallois-Perret, north-west Paris, after initially escaping the scene of the crime.

It follows an incident at the eiffel Tower earlier this month, in which a 19-year- old who had been recently discharged from a hospital brandished a knife after trying to breach security at the landmark, later telling investigators that he wanted to attack a soldier.