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Europe
Police hunt BMW driver who mowed down six French soldiers in Paris
2017-08-09
This is the Telegraph liveblog, last updated at 10:17 a.m. British Summer Time. I am assuming this is Sudden Jihad Syndrome.
[Telegraph] French police launched a manhunt on Wednesday after a car rammed into soldiers near their barracks outside Paris, injuring six people, two of them seriously.

Police were scrambling to track down the vehicle, which took off after the incident described by local mayor Patrick Balkany as "without a doubt a deliberate act".

The vehicle took off after the incident, at about 6am GMT in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret.

Mayor of Levallois-Perret Patrick Balkany has said he saw a BMW drive into the group of soldiers and has "no doubt" it was a deliberate act.

"Without any doubt, it was a deliberate act," Balkany told BFM TV.

Television station BFM said there are three hypotheses: A terror attack, a complete accident, or a mentally unstable driver.

Witnesses have said the car was parked in a cul-de-sac before the incident and that the driver was alone.

The driver is understood to have ploughed into the soldiers during a changing of the guards on a side street.

Police are still currently chasing the driver and on the lookout for the BMW he as driving.

Counter terror police are still not involved in the investigation as the manhunt continues, Le Parisien newspaper reports, writes Oliver Gee.

The soldiers were actually hit by their own vehicle, which had in turn been rammed by the BMW in question, Le Parisien adds.
Update at 9:00 a.m. EDT:
Man shot in hunt for driver

French security forces have shot and incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
 a man suspected of being behind an attack on a group of soldiers on Wednesday morning in a Gay Paree suburb, security sources said.

The man, aged in his late 30s, was intercepted on a motorway north of the French capital in a vehicle used to drive into the soldiers, the sources said, asking not to be named.
Update from the Daily Mail at 1:55 p.m. EDT:
  • Suspect identified as Hamou Bachir, 36, an Algerian not known to police

  • He also uses the name Benlatreche and is thought to be an illegal immigrant facing deportation to Algeria

  • Bachir was shot five times by police before he could be taken into custody

  • A building search is underway in Sartrouville as part of the investigation

  • Six soldiers were injured when a car drove into their unit in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perre, which houses the HQ of France's national anti-terrorism agency
Posted by:trailing wife

#12  Hospital is too kinda, morgue.
Posted by: bbrewer126   2017-08-09 21:09  

#11  I suggest they use another caliber starting with a 4 at a minimum.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2017-08-09 16:39  

#10  Let's go tribal on them for thirty days. Then biblical.
Posted by: Punky Phineling9335   2017-08-09 16:18  

#9  thought to be an illegal immigrant facing deportation to Algeria


Maybe a prison hospital is a positive alternative?
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-08-09 15:57  

#8  Everyone says BMW drivers are inconsiderate assholes...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2017-08-09 14:45  

#7  OOP !
T'was "Shariat roolz yoo hoo !"
Posted by: Dron   2017-08-09 14:19  

#6  The motivation ? Delayed product recall by BMW for catalytic convertors me thinks. He just wanted to elucidate the concept of 'timely action'. I'll bet he shouted 'Hurry yapp , you louse ! ' to the cops as he mowed 'em.
Posted by: Dron   2017-08-09 14:18  

#5  Good find, Bright Pebbles.
Posted by: trailing wife   2017-08-09 14:01  

#4  
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-08-09 12:09  

#3  Time at the range guys.
"arrested" tut tut.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-08-09 09:37  

#2  Jay-dubya, sadly, we may never know.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia    2017-08-09 09:34  

#1  What -possibly- could have been the motivation here? [/sarc]
Posted by: jay-dubya   2017-08-09 09:28  

00:00