Eight injured near French mosque after shooting
Officials have confirmed that eight people have been injured in a shooting outside a mosque in southern France.
On Sunday, 2nd June 2017, Worshippers who were leaving the Arrahma mosque in Avignon had been approached by two hooded suspects at about 22:30 local time (21:30 GMT).
According to reports the suspects had been carrying a handgun and a shotgun, they arrived in a Renault Clio before opening fire on the crowd.
According to the police they were not treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
Four people had been wounded outside the mosque and a family of four which included a seven-year old girl had also suffered injuries from shrapnel while in their apartment, located some 50 metres away.
According to the source, among the eight wounded two had been hospitalized, as per the source, who also said that the worshippers leaving the mosque had not been the intended target.
An eyewitness of the incident who was interviewed said that dozens of people near the mosque had started to run when they saw the two suspects exit the vehicle and approach them with firearms.
The witness said that “It was a black Renault car” adding: “There were four individuals, only two of them, who were seated in the back, stepped out and started shooting at everyone.”
According to the prosecutor’s office the Avignon attack is not being treated as a terrorist incident, “The fact that it happened in the street of the religious establishment was unconnected with it.”
According to Laure Chabaud, a district magistrate, the incident was likely to be the result of a dispute between youths.
According to agency reports, the criminal investigation department has taken charge of the case.
Earlier on Thursday, 29th June 2017, a man had been arrested after trying to drive a car into a crowd in front of a mosque in the Paris suburb of Creteil. Although no one had been injured in the incident.
France remains on alert amid heightened security following a deadly attack on Paris police in April and a series of terrorist incidents in recent years.
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