Six injured in shooting in southeastern France

Paris:Six people were injured, two of them seriously, in a shooting in the southeastern French city of Valence on Tuesday night, French media reported Wednesday.

The shooting occurred at around 10:30 pm local time (2030 GMT), when a gunman opened fire on a group of people with an assault rifle before fleeing the scene in a vehicle, Franceinfo reported.

The six victims, five males and one female aged between 15 and 22, were taken to the hospital. Two of them were in serious condition, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The suspect remains at large. His identity and motive are not yet known, and an investigation is underway.

A burned-out vehicle believed to have been used in the attack was later found several kilometres from the scene.

On July 27, three people were injured in a knife attack in Paris, and a male suspect was arrested.

The attack occurred in northwestern Paris, where a man armed with two kitchen knives attacked passersby on the street. The victims received medical treatment, with two of them in critical condition.

The suspect was apprehended at the scene by an off-duty police officer. He had provided “only a self-reported identity” and was making “incoherent statements,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told the media.

Nunez urged “great caution regarding the motives behind this extremely violent act.”

Several videos of the incident have circulated on social media.

One video captured the suspect making a religious statement as he was being restrained.

“It is Allah who commanded me,” the accused, lying on the floor, was heard saying in the video.

This incident occurred just a day after another Islamic radical attack in Germany, which left one woman dead and 29 others injured.

A van was driven into a crowd near Berlin’s Tiergarten park. The driver then attacked passersby with a weapon believed to be a machete, leaving one woman dead and 29 others injured. The incident occurred near the site of the city’s Christopher Street Day pride parade.

The suspect in the vehicle ramming and stabbing attack in Berlin was shot dead by police, local police said in a statement.

IANS