A 35-year-old man drove his car into pedestrians and cyclists on France’s Oléron island on Wednesday, injuring at least nine people in an attack that has drawn attention from national leaders.
A 35-year-old French man rammed his car into pedestrians and cyclists on Oléron island, off France’s Atlantic coast, on Wednesday, injuring at least nine people, officials said.
The suspect, a local resident, reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest” in Arabic) as he was arrested by police, according to Arnaud Laraize, the public prosecutor in La Rochelle, who spoke to Sud Ouest newspaper.
Authorities said the incident occurred between the villages of Dolus-d’Oléron and Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron. Two of the victims were seriously injured, including the parliamentary assistant of a far-right National Rally lawmaker, while others sustained less severe wounds.
The driver’s car hit several pedestrians and cyclists in different locations before he allegedly set his vehicle on fire. Police later inspected the partially burnt-out car.
Local emergency services quickly arrived at the scene, cordoned off the area, and began gathering evidence.
While some witnesses reported hearing the suspect shout a religious phrase, officials said the motive remains undetermined.
Olivier Falorni, the regional deputy in the French parliament, told reporters in Paris:
“We’re dealing with an individual who lives on the island, and the victims also live on the island. Is this a settling of scores? An Islamist attack? I have no idea. Is there a political motive, or someone mentally unstable who snapped?”
French media reported that the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has not taken over the case at this stage. An investigation for attempted murder is currently being led by the local prosecutor’s office in La Rochelle.
Officials said the suspect is a French national born in 1990, who has family on the island. He is known to police for petty crime, including drunk driving and drug-related offences, but was not on any security or radicalisation watchlists, according to junior minister Marie-Pierre Vedrenne.
The newspaper Le Parisien reported that investigators are also exploring whether the suspect suffers from mental health issues.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that the driver had been arrested and that an investigation was under way. He added that he was travelling to the scene at the request of the French prime minister to oversee the response.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who was en route to Brazil for the COP30 Summit, was said to be monitoring the situation closely. According to his office, the president spoke with Nunez by phone and asked him to coordinate the national response on-site.
Local officials, including Dolus-d’Oléron mayor Thibault Brechkoff and Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron mayor Christophe Sueur, said the victims were not in life-threatening condition and that the community was in shock following the incident.
Île d’Oléron, located off France’s western Atlantic coast near La Rochelle, in the Charente-Maritime region, is the country’s second-largest island after Corsica, known for its beaches, oyster farms, and popular holiday resorts. It is connected to the mainland by a nearly three-kilometre bridge near the city of Rochefort.
Peace-making has a habit of creating new enemies—especially when it reduces someone else’s leverage. As Azerbaijan and Armenia move toward a settl...
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is heading to Beijing on for his first official visit as chancellor, aiming to strengthen political and economic dial...
Newcastle United secured a 3–2 victory over Qarabağ FK in the return leg of the UEFA Champions League play-offs at St James’ Park....
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should block financial support to Russia rather than...
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has called for an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, describing t...
Peace-making has a habit of creating new enemies—especially when it reduces someone else’s leverage. As Azerbaijan and Armenia move toward a settlement architecture that no longer depends on Moscow as the indispensable broker, pressure has not vanished; it has shifted shape.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is heading to Beijing on for his first official visit as chancellor, aiming to strengthen political and economic dialogue with China before tackling pressing international crises.
Newcastle United secured a 3–2 victory over Qarabağ FK in the return leg of the UEFA Champions League play-offs at St James’ Park.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should block financial support to Russia rather than Ukraine, as Budapest opposes the European Union’s 20th sanctions package against Moscow.
Further Iran-U.S. nuclear talks are scheduled in Geneva on Thursday (26 February) as diplomacy resumes over Tehran’s nuclear programme following earlier mediation efforts. But will the talks move Iran-U.S. negotiations closer to a deal, and what should be expected from the meeting?
The European Parliament’s trade chief has urged a temporary suspension of the EU–U.S. trade agreement approval, citing “tariff chaos” following President Donald Trump’s new 15% tariffs and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidating his previous global tariff programme.
Iran has signed a secret €500 million arms deal with Russia to rebuild air defences, weakened during last year’s war with Israel, the Financial Times has reported. The agreement, signed in December in Moscow, will see Russia deliver 500 Verba launch units and 2,500 9M336 missiles over three years.
A British national was among at least 19 people killed when a passenger bus plunged off a mountain highway into the Trishuli river in Nepal before dawn on Monday (23 February), authorities said. A New Zealander and a Chinese national were among those injured.
Seven people were killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Kohat, a district in Pakistan’s north-west near the Afghan border, on Tuesday, in an attack that comes amid rising militant violence and heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is heading to Beijing on for his first official visit as chancellor, aiming to strengthen political and economic dialogue with China before tackling pressing international crises.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should block financial support to Russia rather than Ukraine, as Budapest opposes the European Union’s 20th sanctions package against Moscow.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has called for an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, describing the conflict as “a stain on our collective conscience”.
Newcastle United secured a 3–2 victory over Qarabağ FK in the return leg of the UEFA Champions League play-offs at St James’ Park.
Laurence des Cars, director of the Louvre Museum, has resigned months after a $102 million daylight heist at the museum, which prompted a parliamentary inquiry.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment