French driver targets pedestrians, injures 11

French authorities said a driver deliberately drove into pedestrians at several spots around the eastern city of Dijon, injuring 11 people and raising national concern.

The driver, shouting "Allahu Akbar (God is great)", plowed into pedestrians on Sunday, just a day after a man yelling the same words was killed in an attack on police officers.

Two of the people injured in the Dijon car attack were in serious condition, a police source said, adding that the driver had been arrested.

"The man, born in 1974, is apparently unbalanced and had been in a psychiatric hospital," a source said, adding that "for now his motives are still unclear".

The man targeted groups of pedestrians at five different locations in the city on Sunday evening in a rampage that lasted around half an hour, the police source said.

Witnesses told police the driver shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "that he was acting for the children of Palestine", a source close to the investigation said.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls took to Twitter to express "solidarity" with those injured in the attack.

The country is still reeling from a suspected radical Islamic attack on Saturday that saw a French convert to Islam shot dead after attacking police officers with a knife while also reportedly crying "Allahu Akbar" in the central town of Joue-les-Tours.

The assailant, Burundi-born French national Bertrand Nzohabonayo seriously injured two officers - slashing one in the face - and hurt another.

The 20-year-old attacker also cried "Allahu Akbar" during the assault, said a source close to the case, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The assault prompted the government to step up security at police stations nationwide.

AP - AFP

(China Daily 12/23/2014 page12)