Other media immediately claimed it was an attack to try to ram the mosque. But now authorities are cautioning media to be careful about characterizing the attack.
PARIS – A local official says a man has rammed his car into four soldiers guarding a mosque in the French city of Valence. Mayor Nicolas Daragon says one soldier fired and wounded the attacker who was hospitalized.
Daragon said that the man wasn’t immediately identified, and his motives were being investigated.
The mayor told iTele TV a passerby was wounded in the leg by a bullet,.
The secretary-general of the prosecutor’s office, Frederic Ouiseau, told the station that authorities must be “extremely prudent about the motive” of the attack.
France is on high alert after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people. The soldiers are part of the reinforced security guarding places of worship and other sensitive sites.
Update:
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French TV, TF1, is reporting that the man was about 30 years old, of ‘North African origin’ and according to witnesses, shouted ‘Allah Akbar’ as he twice tried to ram the soldiers.
HT: Blazing Cat Fur