Man drives vehicle at soldiers in France

The man accused of carrying out the attack was not immediately identified when arrested on Friday, according to a statement by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Defense Minister Jean-Yves L. Drian.

Mayor Nicolas Daragon says one soldier fired and wounded the attacker who was hospitalized.

The driver was seriously wounded when the soldiers shot at him, but his injuries are not life-threatening, the government said in a statement.

Hundreds of local Muslims had flocked to the mosque and the soldiers, some of whom got knocked down when the driver ran into them, fired warning shots before wounding the driver, Daragon said.

The man’s motives were unclear and investigations in this regard are underway. “It remains in fact at its highest level, and we are regularly disrupting planned attacks”, the president said. “Full recognition to all our forces mobilized for the security of France”.

Soldiers have been deployed to protect potential targets across the country such as official buildings and religious sites.

Attacks in Paris on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket killed 17 people in January 2015, with a series of co-ordinated shootings and bombings in the city in November leaving 130 people dead.

The traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Paris was cancelled over fears of a terrorist attack.