SEPT-SORTS, France -- An 8-year-old girl was killed and at least 13 people were injured when a driver slammed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant in a small town east of Paris, authorities said Monday.

The driver was immediately arrested in what was the latest of several attacks in France and elsewhere using a vehicle as a weapon. The local prosecutor said the man's actions in the dinnertime attack in the town of Sept-Sorts were clearly deliberate, but not terrorism-related.

The girl and her brother were among restaurant patrons eating on the outdoor terrace of Pizzeria Cesena when a man in a BMW accelerated toward them, an official with the national gendarme service told The Associated Press. Some officials said the girl was 13, while the prosecutor said she was 12.

The girl died immediately, and her brother's injuries were considered life-threatening, according to a gendarme official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Deputy regional prosecutor Eric de Valroger said a 3-year-old boy was flown by helicopter to France's premier children's hospital in Paris and 12 other people were also hospitalized, four in serious condition.

Tactics against vehicle terror attacks

Speaking to reporters near the attack site, de Valroger said he had opened a homicide investigation. At this stage, he said, "I rule out a terrorist motive."

He called it "highly probable" that the driver was under the influence of drugs and that he left the road and deliberately aimed his car at restaurant-goers. De Valroger identified the attacker as a 31-year-old from the nearby town of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre.

The suspect is believed to have tried to kill himself last week, French Interior Ministry Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM television. Brandet said the man was not known to intelligence or police.

Explosives experts combed the area and found no weapon other than the car itself, according to the prosecutor.

Witnesses to the incident were being given emergency counseling.

A police official said authorities were not searching for accomplices, and a security official said there was no evidence of a political or Islamic extremist motive.

The targeted pizzeria is in a shopping zone in the small town of Sept-Sorts, about 65 kilometers, nearly 40 miles, east of Paris near Champagne country. Police cordoned off a large area, and BFM reported that a nearby Chinese restaurant was requisitioned to take in victims and survivors.

The incident on a quiet August night on the eve of a national holiday reignited fears after multiple attacks in which a vehicle was the weapon of choice. An Algerian man drove his car into a group of French soldiers last week, leaving six wounded. A truck attack in the French city of Nice left 86 people dead a little more than a year ago.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his government expressed condolences and support for the victims and survivors of Monday's attack, according to an Interior Ministry statement.</s>A young girl has been killed and at least 12 people injured after a car deliberately drove into a pizzeria in a small village to the east of Paris.

The car ploughed into the busy terrace of the restaurant in Sept-Sorts, a village of about 450 inhabitants in Seine et Marne.

A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said the young girl killed was 13-years-old. He added four people were in a critical condition and eight suffered from less serious injuries.

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According to local media, the driver has been arrested. He reportedly attempted to commit suicide last week.

French police authorities have confirmed on Twitter that an operation is ongoing in Sept-Sorts and urged people to stay away from the area.

The public prosecutor's office in Meaux said this was "a deliberate act" which seems "to have nothing to do with a terror attack", Le Parisien reports.

One witness told BFMTV: "I had just paid and was about to leave the restaurant when a car drove straight into the terrace, it hit the bar and became wedged inside the restaurant.

"The driver wanted to reverse but some people who were nearby prevented him from doing by standing behind the car. The police was quick to arrive and they arrested him there and then.

"For me this was deliberate and it was a terror attack. There were about 20 people on the terrace of the restaurant and they were all mowed down by the car."

France has been rocked by a recent series of terror attacks, and anti-terrorist officers were quickly at the scene of the crash.</s>PARIS (AP) — French police say an 8-year-old girl was killed and at least five people were injured when a driver slammed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant in a small town east of Paris.

An official with the national gendarme service said the driver was arrested soon after the incident Monday night in the town of Sept-Sorts.

The official said it is unclear whether the act was deliberate. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to police policy.

An Algerian man drove his car into a group of French soldiers last week, and a truck attack in the French city of Nice left 86 people dead a little more than a year ago. Several other countries have seen cars used as weapons in recent years.</s>French police say an 13-year-old girl has been killed and at least five people injured after a car ploughed into the outdoor terrace of a pizza restaurant in a town east of Paris.

Police said the BMW was “deliberately” used to attack the restaurant in a shopping centre at Sept-Sorts, in the Seine-et-Marne region east of Paris on Monday.

An official with the national gendarme service said the driver was arrested soon after the incident in the town of Sept-Sorts.

A witness told BFMTV: “A car drove into the terrace and crashed into the bar. The driver tried to reverse but someone stopped them. The gendarmes arrived quickly. There were around 20 people in the restaurant.”

A judicial official said the Paris prosecutor’s office, which oversees French terrorism investigations, was not involved in the case because there was no proof of terrorism at this stage.

A security official said there is no evidence of a political or Islamic extremist motive.

But both officials say authorities view the driver’s actions as a deliberate act.</s>Have your say

An eight year old girl has been killed and at least five people injured after a driver slammed his car into a cafe/pizza restaurant in a town near Paris.

A man has been arrested after the incident, but it is not yet clear if the act was deliberate.

The incident happened in a small town near Paris called Sept-Sorts.

French police said that the man is not yet able to be named.

Last week, an Algerian man drove a car into a group of French soldiers. Just over a year ago, a truck attack in Nice left 86 people dead.</s>A man who may have been trying to kill himself has rammed his car into a pizzeria east of Paris, killing a 13-year-old girl and injuring her younger brother and at least 11 others, authorities said.

The driver was immediately arrested. Police said the man's actions in the town of Sept-Sorts were deliberate, but not thought to be terrorism-related.

The 13-year-old girl and her brother were among the restaurant customers eating on the outdoor terrace of Pizzeria Cesena when a man in a BMW accelerated toward them, an official with the national gendarme service said.

The girl died immediately, while the boy's injuries are considered life-threatening, the official said.

At least three others were taken to hospital in a serious condition, and eight more sustained light injuries, said the official.

The incident reignited fears in France after a string of attacks in which a vehicle was used as a weapon.

An Algerian man drove his car into a group of French soldiers last week, and an Islamic extremist truck attack in the French city of Nice left 86 people dead a little more than a year ago.

The man arrested in Monday's attack is thought to have tried to kill himself last week, French Interior Ministry Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM television.

Mr Brandet said the man, born in 1985, was not known to intelligence or police. He did not identify him.

Two police officials said the incident is considered over and authorities are not searching for accomplices, but to find out what motivated the driver.

A judicial official said on Monday night that the Paris prosecutor's office, which oversees French terrorism investigations, was not involved in the case because there was no proof of terrorism at this stage.

A security official echoed that there was no evidence of a political or Islamic extremist motive.

The targeted pizzeria is in a shopping area in the town of Sept-Sorts about 40 miles east of Paris near Champagne country.

Police cordoned off a large perimeter of the area.</s>PARIS — French officials say a young girl was killed and at least five people were seriously injured when a driver plowed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant in a small town about an hour from Paris.

The national gendarme service said the driver was arrested soon after the incident Monday night in the town of Sept-Sorts after the suspect slammed his car into the pizzeria, killing one child and injuring several others. Investigators were on the scene and officials said it was unclear what motivated the incident.

A police official in the region Seine-et-Marne told NBC News the girl who was killed was 12-years-old and that a 4-year-old child was also seriously injured and flown by helicopter to a hospital in Paris.

Four others were seriously injured and eight were slightly injured, the official said.

France's Interior Ministry told the AP that the man who drove his car into the pizzeria was apparently suicidal and the incident is not believed linked to terrorism.

Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM television that the man was born in 1985 and was believed to have tried to commit suicide last week.</s>A man who may have been trying to kill himself has rammed his car into a pizzeria east of Paris, killing a 13-year-old girl and injuring her younger brother and at least 11 others, authorities said.

The driver was immediately arrested. Police said the man's actions in the town of Sept-Sorts were deliberate, but not thought to be terrorism-related.

The 13-year-old girl and her brother were among the restaurant customers eating on the outdoor terrace of Pizzeria Cesena when a man in a BMW accelerated toward them, an official with the national gendarme service said.

Police officers block a road approaching the town of Sept-Sorts, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of Paris, France after an incident when a driver slammed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant. Picture: AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu

The girl died immediately, while the boy's injuries are considered life-threatening, the official said.

At least three others were taken to hospital in a serious condition, and eight more sustained light injuries, said the official.

The incident reignited fears in France after a string of attacks in which a vehicle was used as a weapon.

An Algerian man drove his car into a group of French soldiers last week, and an Islamic extremist truck attack in the French city of Nice left 86 people dead a little more than a year ago.

The man arrested in Monday's attack is thought to have tried to kill himself last week, French Interior Ministry Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM television.

Mr Brandet said the man, born in 1985, was not known to intelligence or police. He did not identify him.

Two police officials said the incident is considered over and authorities are not searching for accomplices, but to find out what motivated the driver.

Police officers block a road approaching the town of Sept-Sorts, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of Paris, France after an incident when a driver slammed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant. Picture: AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu

A judicial official said on Monday night that the Paris prosecutor's office, which oversees French terrorism investigations, was not involved in the case because there was no proof of terrorism at this stage.

A security official echoed that there was no evidence of a political or Islamic extremist motive.

The targeted pizzeria is in a shopping area in the town of Sept-Sorts about 40 miles east of Paris near Champagne country.

Police cordoned off a large perimeter of the area.</s>A car has 'deliberately' ploughed into a pizza restaurant near Paris killing one young girl and injuring 13 others - five seriously.

The driver is reported to have 'rammed' people eating outside the Pizzeria Cesena - said to be popular with families on a hot summer's evening - in La Fierté sous-Jouarre, killing a 13-year-old girl.

One of the seriously injured is reported to a three-year-old boy who is critical.

The 32-year-old man is reported to have also had weapons in his car when he 'drove up to the restaurant, waited outside and then driven at the restaurant at speed', according to witnesses who said there were about 20 people inside at the time.

Pictures from the pizzeria show chaotic scenes, with the grey BMW buried inside the front of the restaurant - and chairs and tables upturned and metal supports bent out of shape.

Anti-terror offices have swarmed the scene following the crash - but early indications are that while the driver intended to commit suicide, it was NOT a terror attack, according to local police.

A witness told BFMTV: “A car drove into the terrace and crashed into the bar. The driver tried to reverse but someone stopped them. The gendarmes arrived quickly. There were around 20 people in the restaurant.”

Enquiries at the scene suggested that that the motorist ‘had made no effort whatsoever to brake,’ said the source.

The horrific incident took place in the district of Sept-Sorts, which is around 40 miles east of the French capital and not far from Disneyland Paris.

Earlier reports claimed the girl who died was eight years old, but Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet has since confirmed she was aged 13.

The 32-year-old male driver of the BMW has been arrested, the BBC reports.

Local media had said the the driver who had no previous criminal record, had told police officers he had wanted to kill himself and had weapons in the car.

Mr Brandet said the incident happened just after 8pm ‘and seemed to be a deliberate attack’ by a 32-year-old man ‘who was not known to the security or justice services.’

According to an initial investigation, what the man said during the incident "make it possible to discard (it was a) terrorist attack".

He had already tried to "end his days without success" on Sunday and "he would have decided to do it again," a judicial source told French publication LCI.fr.

The Frenchman also admitted to police that he was a manic depressive

Early questioning and the checking of documents established that ‘the individual was psychologically unstable’ and had ‘tried to commit suicide last week’.

The incident was not being treated as a terror attack, local media said.

The incident follows similar terrorist attacks by jihadi killers pledging allegiance to Islamic State.

Early reports from the scene tonight suggested that the male driver "pulled up close to the restaurant" in a BMW car, and then "deliberately targeted it".

"There were quite a lot of people on the terrace,’ said a source close to the case.

"An eight year old girl was hit straight on, and died at the scene.

"At least five people are very seriously injured. The man was arrested and is now with the police. There is a gendarmerie very close by.

"Anti-terrorist officers arrived on the scene very quickly, but we don’t yet know what this is about.’

Roads into the village of Sept-Sorts, which has a population of just 400, were tonight being blocked off, with residents being told to stay indoors.

"There is a full-scale alert," said one.

Specialist police units from Paris were scrambled to the scene in the Seine-et-Marne department.

There was no initial sign of anybody else being involved in the crash, and the man remained in custody.

Pictures posted on Twitter showed the badly damaged BMW on the restaurant terrace.

The pizzeria is in an industrial zone, surrounded by other restaurants. It is particularly popular with young families on warm summer evenings like tonight.

Last week an illegal immigrant to France was shot by police five times after running down six soldiers with a hired BMW in a Paris suburb.

The terrorist suspect, identified as Hamou Bachir, a 36-year-old Algerian, was caught after initially escaping the scene of the crime at Levallois-Perret.

Bachir - who also uses the name Benlatreche – ploughed into a uniformed and heavily armed unit of the 35 Infantry Regiment as they took part in Operation Sentinel.

The security initiative was set up in 2015 following a series of atrocities in Paris carried out by Islamic State and Al-Qaeda operatives.

Bachir was lurking as two three-man patrols swapped shifts, and then he approached them slowly ‘before speeding up,’ said local mayor Patrick Balkany.

There are 10,000 soldiers patrolling France as part of Operation Sentinel, and 4,700 police and gendarmes.

France remains under a State of Emergency following a long string of attacks, including an attempt to kill a soldier at the Eiffel Tower earlier this month.

The 19-year-old psychiatric patient is in custody after he brandished a knife and pledged allegiance to Isis.

In April, 39-year-old police officers Xavier Jugele was shot dead while on duty on the Champs Elysee just days before the French presidential election.

Isis claimed the killing by Karim Cheurfi, also 39, who was shot dead by police in a gun battle. Two other officers were injured in the attack.

In June an Algerian student shouted ‘This is for Syria’ as he tried to attack a policeman with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

He was shot and ended up in custody in hospital.

And in March a convicted criminal with links to radical Islam shouted 'I am here to die for Allah, there will be deaths' seconds before he was shot dead during an attack at Paris Orly airport.

Ziyed Ben Belgacem, a 39-year-old career criminal, was killed after wrestling a soldier's gun from her and fleeing into a McDonald's restaurant.

It followed the shooting in February of a man outside the Louvre museum in the heart of Paris after he attempted to storm the historic art gallery.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an enquiry into today’s attack.

The assailant will be questioned at length ‘when his condition allows’, said an Interior Ministry spokesman.</s>PARIS (AP) -- French police said an 8-year-old girl was killed and at least five people were injured when a driver slammed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant in a small town east of Paris.

An official with the national gendarme service said the driver was arrested soon after the incident Monday night in the town of Sept-Sorts.

The official said it is unclear whether the act was deliberate. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to police policy.

An Algerian man drove his car into a group of French soldiers last week, and a truck attack in the French city of Nice left 86 people dead a little more than a year ago. Several other countries have seen cars used as weapons in recent years.

France (AP) - JUST IN: One girl is dead and at least five people are injured after a driver rammed into patrons at a pizza restaurant, located east of Paris.

This is a developing story. Stay with News 18 on-air and online for the latest updates.
A 13-year-old girl is killed when a car is deliberately driven into a pizza restaurant's sidewalk cafe in Sept-Sorts, France. At least 12 other people are injured, four critically. The driver is arrested. Police do not believe the incident was terrorism-related.