Man detained over bid to ram car into French soldiers (Second Lead)

Paris March 29 (IANS) A man was arrested by the police for shouting death threats in Arabic and trying to ram a car into a group of soldiers outside an Army base in southeastern France on Thursday.

The incident happened when the soldiers of the 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment were jogging near their barracks in Varces-Allieres-et-Risset near the southern city of Grenoble. They managed to avoid the oncoming vehicle by diving into a ditch the BBC reported.

The driver shouted in Arabic at the soldiers before the attack and sped off afterwards in what reports said was a stolen Peugeot 208. Reports suggested a woman was also in the car. No one was harmed.

Army spokesman Colonel Benoit Brulon said: "At around 8.15 a.m. today a man verbally threatened six or seven soldiers who were out jogging. Then he did the same thing to a second group of runners.

"When they returned to speak to him he tried to ram them " he said.

An investigating official said: "They had to throw themselves away from the car to avoid being hurt. All are unhurt but very shocked." He said that the driver had "made it clear" he wanted to injure the soldiers.

Police tweeted to say a man had been detained in a Grenoble market after a search operation.

France remains on edge after 25-year-old gunman Radouane Lakdim went on a killing spree at a supermarket in Trebes on March 23 leaving four dead.

President Emmanuel Macron said France was locked in a fight against "clandestine Islamic fundamentalism".

--IANS
soni/bg