A driver has rammed his car into pedestrians and cyclists on the holiday island of Oléron, off the west coast of France, injuring five people - including two who are in a critical condition.
A local man, 35, deliberately drove into people and then set fire to the vehicle, authorities said. He was immobilised with a stun gun after resisting arrest.
The man drove some distance between two villages on the island, mowing down several people, the mayor of Dolus d'Oléron, Thibault Brechkoff, said.
He is now being held by police in Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron on suspicion of attempted murder.
The incident took place around 08:45 (07:45 GMT) and lasted 35 minutes. Witnesses described seeing a series of incidents in several places on the island, including the villages of Dolus d'Oléron and Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron, which ended outside a bakery.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who traveled to the scene, said an inquiry had been opened to determine whether there were one or more gas cylinders in the suspect's vehicle. This individual is known to police for petty crimes. He is not known to intelligence services for radicalization of any kind, Nuñez added.
The public prosecutor for La Rochelle, Arnaud Laraize, stated that the man had shouted Allahu Akbar at the moment of his arrest.
Nuñez explained that a representative from the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office was present only as an observer. One of the seriously injured victims is a 22-year-old woman suffering from multiple trauma, while the other is a 69-year-old cyclist. There will likely be several other people involved; even if they weren't physically harmed, they witnessed the scene and are obviously very psychologically disturbed by these events, Nuñez remarked.
Oléron, a popular holiday destination, is metropolitan France's second largest island after Corsica and is connected to the mainland by a road bridge.
