Car rams police vehicle on Paris’ Champs Elysees, driver likely dead

June 19, 2017 09:56 pm | Updated 09:56 pm IST - PARIS:

Criminal police inspect the body of a suspect at the scene of an incident in which a car rammed a gendarmerie van on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, France, on Monday. A driver appeared to deliberately crash his car into a police van on the French capital's Champs Elysees avenue the interior ministry said, and the Paris prosecutor's anti-terrorism unit said it had opened an investigation.

Criminal police inspect the body of a suspect at the scene of an incident in which a car rammed a gendarmerie van on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, France, on Monday. A driver appeared to deliberately crash his car into a police van on the French capital's Champs Elysees avenue the interior ministry said, and the Paris prosecutor's anti-terrorism unit said it had opened an investigation.

A driver deliberately rammed his car into a police van as it drove down Paris' Champs Elysees avenue and was probably killed, police said, adding that no officers or bystanders were injured and the situation was under control.

The Paris prosecutor's counter-terrorism unit said it had opened an investigation into the incident, which occurred only a short walk away from the Elysees presidential palace and the U.S. embassy.

The car hit the front of the police van as it was overtaking it and caught fire, a police spokeswoman told reporters.

“It appears to have been a deliberate act on the part of the individual,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet.

Brandet told reporters the driver, who was armed, was “most likely dead”, adding that it was difficult to say for sure while the area where he was lying was being checked for explosives.

A report on France's BFM TV said the man was known to security services and had been carrying a gas bottle in the car.

France has been on high security alert following a series of militant Islamist attacks in recent years, including the shooting of a policeman in an Islamic State-claimed attack on a police bus on the Champs Elysees in April.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.