French police arrested a Russian man of Chechen origin after a deliberate car ramming in the north of the country killed two men, both believed to be Afghan nationals, and wounded nine others, officials said on Thursday.
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The car ploughed into a group of people gathered outside a bar late Wednesday in the Normandy city of Caen, said the Calvados department prefect David Clavière.
The events occurred after a fight, according to a police source, when the 26-year-old suspect was set upon by several people.
He returned with his car, driving onto a bus lane in front of Caen train station and deliberately drove into the men and other people standing under a bus shelter, a police source said.
The Caen prosecutor’s office said there was no apparent terrorist motive. The suspect, lawfully residing in France, was not known to intelligence services and had never been convicted of a crime, according to authorities.
“I only heard the sound of the car when it hit the people, the crushing,” a man who witnessed the attack but asked not to be named told the AFP news agency.
Evoking a disagreement involving the driver, another witness said: “The guy left, he got really annoyed, he came back and he drove into everyone.”
“People are in shock, this has never happened in Caen,” he added.
Suspect originates from Chechnya
One man was confirmed to have died on Wednesday with a police source saying he was a 35-year-old Afghan.
The second fatality, aged 28, is also believed to be Afghan, said the regional prosecutor Joel Garrigue. He added that the nine wounded, aged 17-36, are all men. Seven of the wounded were in critical condition, he added.
Several are suffering “fractures to the lower limbs,” according to a prosecutor’s office statement.
According to another police source, the victims include men of French, Egyptian, Bangladeshi, and Sudanese nationalities.
The driver, a Russian national from the mainly Muslim north Caucasus region of Chechnya, subsequently fled the scene.
He was apprehended by security forces in the neighbouring port of Ouistreham following a major search operation, the gendarmerie said.
During questioning, the suspect “reported having been the victim of violence on the station forecourt prior to the incident,” said the prosecutor.
The man was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, he said.
Anthony Hebert, a taxi driver who works in the area, said the neighbourhood around the station was generally calm but tensions could erupt at night.
“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised. It was bound to happen one day, maybe not on this scale, but things like this don’t surprise me,” he said.
Additional sources • AFP
