Six French soldiers have been injured after a car slammed into them before speeding off in a suspected terror attack in Paris.

The BMW was parked in an alley before it accelerated into the soldiers as they left their barracks to go on patrol, Patrick Balkany, the mayor of Levallois-Perret, said.

"The vehicle did not stop. It hurtled at them... it accelerated rapidly," he told broadcaster BFM TV.

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"Without any doubt, it was a deliberate act," Mr Balkany told broadcaster BFM TV. He went on to denounce the "intolerable attack" on the military.

A man has been shot and arrested by elite police officers on a motorway in northern France in the search for the driver.

Three of the soldiers suffered slight injuries while three were more seriously injured, but their lives are not in danger, according to the Defence Ministry.

Authorities are checking video surveillance of the area, near the city hall of Levallois, north west of Paris, to identify the vehicle and hunt down the driver.

Florence Parly, the country's armed forces minister, said the driver was on the run and being sought, and an investigation was under way to determine "the motives and circumstances" for what she called a "cowardly act".

One official said the attacker struck in the Place de Verdun just as a group of soldiers emerged from the building to board vehicles for a new shift.

A security perimeter has been installed around the scene, and the defence minister and interior minister were expected to visit wounded soldiers later in the day.

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French counter-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into the attack.

No one has been specifically named in the investigation yet, but it is aimed at pursuing perpetrators on charges of attempted murder of security forces in connection with a terrorist enterprise, the prosecutor's office said.

The move means authorities believe the attack was deliberate and planned with a terrorist motive.

France's interior minister said the driver intentionally targeted soldiers in a calculated car attack.

Gerard Collomb told reporters the attack marks the sixth time soldiers with the Sentinelle operation have been targeted.

He said it showed the importance of a new terrorism law permanently enshrining some aspects of the state of emergency in place in France since 2015.

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This is to coincide with his state of the nation address in Manila. AFP/Getty

France remains in a state of emergency following a string of terror attacks in which Islamist militants or Islamist-inspired attackers have killed more than 230 people over the past two years.

Operation Sentinel has seen soldiers regularly patrol the streets since the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

The attack comes four days after a teenager with psychiatric problems tried to attack security forces guarding the Eiffel Tower.</s>PARIS (AP) -- The Latest on an attack on soldiers in a Paris suburb (all times local):

UPDATE (AP) -- France's Defense Ministry says three soldiers were seriously injured in a car attack in a Paris suburb but their lives are not currently in danger.

The ministry said in a statement that six members of the 35th infantry regiment were injured in the incident, including three "more seriously."

Defense Minister Florence Parly and Interior Minister Gerard Collomb are visiting soldiers hospitalized at the Begin military hospital in the suburb of Saint-Mande.

It was the latest of several attacks on members of the Sentinelle military operation tasked with protecting French sites after deadly attacks.

UPDATE (AP) -- French counterterrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into a car attack on soldiers in Paris suburb that left six injured.

The Paris prosecutor's office says the investigation was opened after Wednesday's incident in Levallois-Perret.

No one is specifically named in the investigation yet, but it aims at pursuing perpetrators on charges of attempted murder of security forces in connection with a terrorist enterprise, the prosecutor's office said.

The move means authorities believe the attack was deliberate and planned with a terrorist motive.

The car and driver have not yet been found.

UPDATE (AP) -- A Paris suburb where a vehicle rammed into soldiers is home to France's main intelligence agency and a staging point for soldiers assigned to protect prominent sites after recent attacks.

Residents of Levallois-Perret are so accustomed to seeing security forces that resident Roseline Bailleux thought Wednesday's attack was an exercise.

Bailleux, 67, was one of several people who said that the street where the soldiers were hit was nearly always thronged with soldiers.

She was woken in the morning by her husband, who had noticed a crush of ambulances and emergency vehicles.

"We thought it was an exercise," she said.

She said that area was popular with parents and their children but the attack happened when they weren't around.

She said she had been touched by several previous attacks, including the 2015 gun rampage at the Bataclan music venue in Paris -- which was next door to where one of her children lived -- and the 2016 Nice truck attack, which happened near where she used to live.

"I'm not going to stop walking through the park because of that. ... It can happen to anyone."

UPDATE (AP) -- Police officials say a driver in a dark BMW is on the run after ramming his car into a large group of soldiers in what appeared to be a calculated ambush in a Paris suburb.

Two police officials say authorities are checking video surveillance of the area near the city hall of Levallois to identify the vehicle and hunt the driver responsible for Wednesday's attack.

The officials said witnesses described seeing a BMW with one person on board waiting in a cul-de-sac near a building used for soldiers from the Sentinelle operation. One official said the attacker hit just as a group of soldiers emerged from the building to board vehicles for a new shift.

Neither official was authorized to be publicly named discussing ongoing operations.

UPDATE (AP) -- The mayor of a Paris suburb where a vehicle ran down six soldiers says it was a deliberate act targeting security forces.

Levallois Mayor Patrick Balkany denounced on BFM television what he called an "odious attack" and said it was "without a doubt deliberate."

Authorities are searching for the driver and vehicle, which drove away after the incident at Place de Verdun in Levallois, on the northwest edge of Paris.

It targeted soldiers from the Sentinelle security force created after Islamic extremist attacks in 2015.

The incident comes four days after a teenager with psychiatric problems tried to attack security forces guarding the Eiffel Tower.

******

PARIS (AP) -- French police say a vehicle slammed into soldiers guarding a Paris suburb, injuring six of them, before getting away.

Authorities are now searching for the vehicle and driver after the Wednesday incident, according to a Paris police spokesman.

The vehicle appeared to clearly target the soldiers but the motive is unclear, the spokesman said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to police policy.

Four people were injured lightly, two more seriously, the spokesman said.

The incident in Levallois, northwest of Paris, is the latest of several attacks targeting security forces in France guarding sites after a string of deadly attacks.</s>Six soldiers have been hurt, two of them seriously, after they were hit by a car in Paris on Wednesday morning.

The incident happened in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret at about 8am local time (4pm AEST).

In a message posted to Twitter, Paris police said an "intervention is under way", with police still searching for the car involved.

Both of the seriously-injured soldiers have been taken to hospital, but authorities said their conditions are not life-threatening.

French newspaper Le Monde reported the soldiers are part of Opération Sentinelle, a domestic anti-terrorism operation set up in the wake of the Paris attacks in November 2015.

Large numbers of police have been sent to the site.

Patrick Balkany, the local mayor for Levallois-Perret, said he had "no doubt" the soldiers were targeted deliberately.

He said a BMW was parked in an alley near the soldiers' barracks and appeared to be waiting for them to come out. Once they emerged to go on patrol, the car drove into them.

"Without any doubt, it was a deliberate act," Mr Balkany told BFM TV. "The BMW accelerated very quickly the moment they came out.

"This happened in the middle of the town. It happened very quickly. It's an odious act of aggression."

The incident follows the arrest of a man at the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, after he attempted to force his way through a checkpoint with a knife.

French authorities have since opened a counter-terrorism investigation, after the man said he intended to attack a soldier.

More to come</s>PARIS (CBSMiami) – Counterterrorism prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into a car attack on soldiers that left six injured.

It happened early this morning outside of the country’s main intelligence agency just north of Paris. The attacker hit just as a group of soldiers as they emerged from the building to board vehicles for a new shift.

Authorities believe the attack was deliberate and planned with a terrorist motive.

Investigators are now looking for the driver who got away in a dark BMW.

The U.S. Embassy in Paris warned Americans to avoid the Levallois-Perret area in a tweet.

The incident comes less than two months after a man was killed when he rammed a car carrying explosives into a police vehicle in the Champs-Elysees shopping district.</s>French police hunting a driver who rammed a car into a group of soldiers in Paris early Wednesday morning have shot, wounded and arrested a man on a highway north of the city.

A Lille policeman was injured by stray gunfire during the arrest, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor told CNN.

The man, who was unarmed and hit with five bullets while attempting to evade police on the A16 motorway, is in a serious condition, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV. The broadcaster reported that he was arrested between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais.

The suspect, born in 1980, reportedly drove his vehicle into a police car before being arrested, according to BFMTV. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe confirmed that the person arrested is the same man who carried out the attack.

France’s counter-terror unit is investigating the attack, in a suburb of northwest Paris, which left six soldiers injured, three seriously, according to Paris police. The soldiers’ injuries are not life-threatening.

Police had been searching for a BMW car and its driver who rammed into a group of soldiers outside a barracks at the Place de Verdun in Levallois-Perret around 8 a.m. local time.

Minister of the Interior Gerard Collomb said the attack was a “deliberate act.”

“The car accelerated towards the soldiers for five meters in order to hit them,” he told reporters. “We do not believe this could be an accident.”

The mayor of Levallois-Perret, Patrick Balkany, told BFMTV that the car was “pre-positioned” in a small alleyway, waiting for troops from the 35th Infantry Regiment to come out of the building.

The group of soldiers is part of France’s Operation Sentinel, set up in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in January 2015.

Levallois-Perret — a quiet and affluent neighborhood — is home to the headquarters of the DCRI, France’s counter intelligence agency.

One eyewitness, who gave her name as Zakia, told BFMTV that she was awakened by a “boom” before running to her balcony.

“I saw a soldier on the ground … then the fire service and paramedics arrived,” she said. “I saw the whole scene, and I’m shocked.”

Another unnamed woman told BFMTV she heard a “large boom, from, say, a crash, a car accident.”

“We heard all the ambulances arriving… We saw all the emergency services vehicles: firefighters, police, paramedics. We saw two men on the ground, being cared for by firefighters and doctors.”

France still in state of emergency

France has been in a state of emergency introduced after a terror attack in Paris killed 130 people in November 2015.

This is the sixth incident to affect French security forces in 2017 alone.

The incidents have taken place at high-profile tourist destinations such as the Louvre, the Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Paris’ Orly airport.</s>A French official says police have arrested the chief suspect in a car attack on soldiers, and the man was wounded in a gunfight during his capture.

The judicial official said the man was the driver of a BMW that rammed into a group of soldiers Wednesday in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. Six soldiers were injured in the attack.

The official provided no other information about the suspect or his condition. Two police officials said the arrest occurred on the A16 highway in northern France.

The officials weren’t authorized to be publicly named discussing an ongoing investigation.

The driver’s motive is unclear, but officials said he deliberately aimed at the soldiers, and counterterrorism authorities opened an investigation. It is the latest of several attacks targeting security forces guarding France over the past year. While others have targeted prominent sites like the Eiffel Tower, Wednesday’s attack hit a leafy, relatively affluent suburb that is home to France’s main intelligence service, the DGSI.

Three of the soldiers suffered light injuries while three were more seriously injured, but their lives are not in danger, according to the Defense Ministry.

They were from the 35th infantry regiment and served in Operation Sentinelle, created to guard prominent French sites after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks in 2015.

Witnesses described seeing a BMW with one person inside waiting in a cul-de-sac near a building used for Sentinelle soldiers, according to two police officials. One official said the attacker hit just as a group of soldiers emerged from the building to board vehicles for a new shift.

The street is normally guarded by posts that are removed when vehicles move in and out, according to residents. The driver must have known exactly when to strike, said resident Jean-Claude Veillant, 70.

Veillant said he saw two uniformed soldiers prone on the ground when he came down to the entrance of his 13-story building at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday morning.

“It was horrible,” he said, explaining that both soldiers appeared to be in bad shape and that one of them was unconscious.

“They must’ve really planned this,” he said.

Levallois Mayor Patrick Balkany called it an “odious attack” and said it was “without a doubt deliberate.”

“A BMW pre-positioned itself in the alley (where the barracks is located) and barreled into them,” he said on BFM television. He said the car “accelerated very quickly when they left” the building.

A security perimeter was installed around the scene, and the defense minister and interior minister are expected to visit wounded soldiers Wednesday afternoon.

French counterterrorism prosecutors opened an investigation aimed at pursuing perpetrators on charges of attempted murder of security forces in connection with a terrorist enterprise, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The move means authorities believe the attack was deliberate and planned with a terrorist motive.

French President Emmanuel Macron is holding a previously scheduled top-level security meeting Wednesday morning. He has pledged to boost military spending and entrench security measures after a string of Islamic extremist attacks since 2015.</s>PARIS — Police are searching for the driver of a car who drove into a group of soldiers outside a barracks in a suburb northwest of Paris on Wednesday morning.

Six soldiers were injured in the incident, two seriously, but their injuries are not life threatening, according to Paris police.

The soldiers were leaving the barracks at the Place de Verdun in Levallois-Perret at 8:15 a.m. local time when they were knocked down by a BMW, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

The group of soldiers are part of France’s Operation Sentinel, set up in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in January 2015.

“There was no doubt that this was a deliberate act,” the mayor of Levallois-Perret, Patrick Balkany, told BFMTV.

Balkany told BFMTV that the car was “pre-positioned” in a small alleyway, waiting for troops from the 35th Infantry Regiment to come out of the building.

One eyewitness, who gave her name as Zakia, told BFMTV that she was awoken by a “boom” before running to her balcony.

“I saw a soldier on the ground … then the fire service and paramedics arrived,” she said. “I saw the whole scene, and I’m shocked.”

France’s Minister of the Interior Gerard Collomb wrote on Twitter that he was visiting the soldiers injured in the incident.

Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo tweeted offering “all her support” to those injured, adding “I hope with all my heart that their attacker will be quickly apprehended.”

France has been in a state of emergency since it was introduced after a terror attack in Paris killed 130 people in November 2015.

This is the sixth incident to affect French security forces in 2017 alone.

The incidents have taken place at high-profile tourist destinations such as the Louvre, the Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Paris’ Orly airport.</s>(CNN) -- Six soldiers have been injured, two seriously, after being hit by a vehicle outside their barracks in a suburb northwest of Paris, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

The soldiers were leaving their barracks at the Place de Verdun in Levallois-Perret when they were knocked down by the vehicle.

Police say they are currently searching for the suspect and the car.

Two soldiers were seriously hurt and four others suffered minor injuries, BFMTV reported.

"There was no doubt that this was a deliberate act," the mayor of Levallois-Perret, Patrick Balkany, told BFMTV.

The incident, which involved a BMW, occurred at 8:15 a.m. local time, according to BFMTV.

Developing story - more to come

The CNN TM & © 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.</s>A major police operation is underway in a Paris suburb after a group of French soldiers were hit by a vehicle.

Six soldiers were injured, the Paris Police Authority said, two of them seriously after the incident in the Levallois Perret district.</s>A car rammed into a group of soldiers in a Parisian suburb on Wednesday, injuring six before speeding off in what officials identified as a suspected terrorist attack.

The vehicle, a BMW, was parked in an alley before it accelerated into the soldiers as they left their barracks to go on patrol, said Patrick Balkany, mayor of Levallois-Perret.

“The vehicle did not stop. It hurtled at them ... it accelerated rapidly,” he told broadcaster BFM TV.

Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said the driver was on the run and being sought, and an investigation was under way to determine “the motives and circumstances” for what she called a “cowardly act.”

A justice ministry official said counter-terrorism investigators had been assigned to the case.

The incident follows a string of Islamist-inspired attacks on soldiers and police, who have been deployed in large numbers nationwide after calls by militant group Islamic State for attacks on France and other countries bombing its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

The soldiers hit on Wednesday were rushed to hospital and police said two of the six were seriously injured.

Balkany said that what he called a “disgusting” act of aggression was “without any doubt” premeditated.

Jean-Claude Veillant, resident of an apartment building directly above the scene, witnessed part of the attack.

“I heard a loud noise, the sound of scraping metal. Shortly after, I saw one of the badly wounded lying in front of the Vigipirate (army patrol) vehicle and another one behind it receiving treatment,” he told reporters.

France remains on maximum alert following a string of attacks over the past two years in which Islamist militants or Islamist-inspired attackers have killed more than 230 people.

Most were civilians killed in Paris in early and late 2015 as well as in the southern seaside city of Nice in mid-2016, Since then a string of attacks have primarily targeted police and soldiers.

This year, assailants attacked soldiers at the Louvre museum site in Paris in February and at Orly airport in March. An assailant shot a policeman dead on the Champs Elysees avenue in the capital in April. Another man died after ramming his car into a police van in June and soldiers disarmed a knife-wielding man at the Eiffel Tower earlier this month.

The car in Wednesday’s attack, which police said was dark-colored and probably a BMW, was parked near the edge of the Place de Verdun square in the center of Levallois-Perret, a relatively affluent suburb on the western edge of Paris.

The area, quieter than normal in peak summer holiday season, was cordoned off after the incident, which happened at around 8:00 a.m., police said.

Levallois-Perret is about 5 km (3 miles) from city center landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Elysee Presidential Palace.
In a suspected terror attack, six French soldiers are injured, three seriously, when a man drives a car into them at a barracks in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret.