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Driver tries to ram group of French soldiers | Driver tries to ram group of French soldiers |
(35 minutes later) | |
A driver is on the run after trying to ram a car into a group of soldiers who were jogging near their barracks in south-eastern France. | |
Soldiers of the 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment managed to avoid the oncoming vehicle in Varces-Allières-et-Risset, near Grenoble. | |
Gendarmerie have sent out patrols nearby to check number plates. The car is reportedly a stolen Peugeot 208. | |
Police are not yet speculating about a motive for the attack. | |
The incident follows a hostage-taking at a supermarket in the south-western town of Trèbes, near Carcassonne, on 23 March. | |
A memorial service was held in Paris on Wednesday for Lt Col Arnaud Beltrame, a police officer who died after swapping himself for a hostage in the attack. | |
He and the three other victims will be laid to rest on Thursday. The 25-year-old gunman, who said he was acting on behalf of the Islamic State group, was shot dead by police. | |
French army spokesman Colonel Benoît Brulon confirmed Thursday's attack, saying the man had "verbally threatened" some soldiers who were out jogging, before driving at a second group of running troops. | |
The soldiers managed to get back onto the pavement out of the way of the car, which sped off after the attack. | |
Gendarmerie have cordoned off the area and begun searching for the man, while the military has reinforced security around the barracks, Mr Brulon said. | |
France remains on high alert after a number of terror attacks in recent years, although in October last year President Macron lifted a state of emergency in place since 2015. |