LONDON — A motorist rammed and injured several pedestrians and cyclists on the French island of Oléron, off the Atlantic coast, on Wednesday.

Police swiftly arrived at the scene and apprehended the driver “with difficulty,” BFMTV reported on Wednesday, citing the mayor of Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron, Christophe Sueur.

He was taken into custody, BFMTV added.

Authorities subsequently opened an investigation, according to the French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. France’s national anti-terror prosecutor’s office is also monitoring the case, BFMTV said.

Ten passersby were injured, BFMTV said. At least two people are in a critical condition, the interior minister wrote in a post on X.

Some of the survivors will be evacuated by helicopter to Poitiers, a city in mainland France, the mayor of Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron, Christophe Sueur, told BFMTV. There were no children among the injured, he added.

After hitting several people, the driver stepped out of his car and tried to set it on fire, BFMTV said. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack, local prosecutors said, adding that they could not yet determine a clear motive.

The motorist – a French, Caucasian national in his 30s – is known to local police for common law offenses, including theft and driving under the influence of alcohol, added BFMTV, which also reported that he was not known to French intelligence services.

He has family on the island of Oléron – where he lived and started his car journey on Wednesday, Sueur said.

In the aftermath, his vehicle lay on the roadside “with its front ripped off,” Sueur recalled.

“It all happened very quickly,” the mayor told reporters. “I don’t associate with him, but he is a person who is known, particularly to the police services,” he added. — CNN

t-Pierre-d'Oléron, which came to an end outside a bakery. — BBC