A 35-year-old fisherman deliberately ran over five people on Oleron island, seriously injuring two, with the suspect shouting “God is the greatest” in Arabic
SAINT-PIERRE-D’OLÉRON: A driver with no previous record of radicalisation deliberately ran over five people on Oleron island in western France.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed the attack seriously wounded two victims, including a 22-year-old woman.
The 35-year-old fisherman suspect ran over his victims over a 35-minute period before being arrested.
Nunez stated the man was not known to intelligence services as having been radicalised.
Police used a taser to arrest the suspect as he set fire to his car.
Prosecutor Arnaud Laraize said the man cried “God is the greatest” in Arabic when apprehended.
The expression is commonly used in Islam but has also been employed by militants during attacks.
Local officials described the suspect as someone who lived alone in a mobile home and had a very isolated life.
President Emmanuel Macron expressed being shocked by the attack and offered condolences to victims’ families.
“We have full confidence in the justice system to establish the truth and respond to this violence with the utmost firmness,” Macron wrote on social media.
The attack occurred on a road between Dolus d’Oleron and Saint-Pierre d’Oleron.
A lawmaker from the anti-immigration National Rally party said the seriously injured woman was his aide who had been out for a morning jog.
France has experienced multiple jihadist attacks in recent years, including the 2016 Nice truck attack that killed 86 people.
The country will soon mark a decade since the Bataclan concert hall attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. – AFP
