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Explosive-laden car rams police van in Paris
Explosive-laden car rams police van on Paris' Champs-Elysées in 'botched suicide attack'


A heavily-armed driver "deliberately" rammed a police van at the Champs-Elysées roundabout in Paris on Monday, just 200 yards form the presidential palace where Emmanuel Macron resides.

The vehicle, a white Renault Mégane, struck a blue police van as it drove down the road in the central Parisian district at around 3.40pm, and burst into flames. Yellow smoke then billowed from the vehicle as police moved in to neutralise the driver.

According to BFMTV, he jumped out of the car, weapon in hand, but then collapsed and died from blast injuries.

Police are treating the incident as a terror attack after finding a Kalashnikov, handguns, "numerous" gun cartridges and at least one gas canister inside the vehicle, a security source told AFP.

The driver - reportedly a 31-year old known to intelligence and on a security watch list - died in the "attempted attack", according to the French interior minister, Gerard Collomb.

"Security forces have been targeted in France once again," he added.

The weapons and explosives found in the vehicle "could potentially blow this car up."

Nobody was hurt and the dead driver's motives are unknown. Anti-terror police have launched an inquiry.

Experts said that the curiously strange yellow smoke coming from the car suggested that it contained explosive material that failed to properly blow up on contact.

Jacques Poinas, ex-head of the French anti-terror coordination unit, told BFMTV: "It appears the explosive part didn't work. The device was apparently ignited but didn't go off. It could also be that that the assailant was too badly injured in the collision to go through with his plan."

The entire sector has been cordoned off and forensic experts are in situ. Police asked people to avoid the area.

The incident is now "under control" but police are still blocking the area. The nearest metro station, Champs-Elysées Clémenceau, has been closed.

The stretch of the road is used by ministers on a daily basis and is very close to the Elysée Palace and interior ministry.

The attack took place hours after a man ploughed into people leaving a mosque in London, and came just weeks after an Islamist gunned down a policeman on the Champs-Elysées with a Kalashnikov before being shot dead himself - just before the first round of presidential elections. He had sworn allegiance to Isil.

Visitors to an art exhibit of Auguste Rodin's works in central Paris were confined inside the Grand Palais for an hour after the attack.

Victoria Boucher and daughter Chrystel said they're hoping the Champs-Elysees reopened soon. They came in from the suburb of Cergy-Pontoise for a Paris visit and weren't afraid to go to the famed avenue.

Chrystel said that "we were better off inside than outside." But both agreed as the mother said, "unfortunately we now are used to this."

"The show must go on," the daughter said in English. "They won't win."

Mr Collomb said the latest incident showed that the terror threat remained very high. He said he would present a bill on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting to extend France's state of emergency from July 15, its current expiration date, until November 1.

The current situation in France shows a new security law "is needed" and the measure would "maintain a high security level" beyond the end of the state of emergency, he added.

France has been under a state of emergency since the November 2015 attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris.

link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/19/police-operation-way-champs-elysees-paris/
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2017/06/23, 2:45:32 凌晨
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