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Deranged driver targets pedestrians in Dijon, France

Investigators are still looking into whether the attack was motivated by Islamic extremism.

By Brooks Hays

DIJON, France, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- A day after French police shot dead a knife-wielding assailant, a man attempted to drive into several pedestrians in the French city of Dijon before being apprehended by authorities.

The assailant reportedly yelled, "Allahu akbar" -- an Islamic phrase meaning "God is great" -- while carrying out the attacks. After attempting to run over 11 pedestrians in at at least a few separate incidents in Dijon Sunday, the man was apprehended by police. Two of the victims were seriously injured.

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Saturday, in the city of Joue-les-Tours, a man knocked on the door of a police station. When an officer came to open the door, the man pulled a knife and began to attack the officers inside while screaming "Allahu akbar."

"He was banging on the fittings [of the door], so the officers opened [the door] to see what he was doing, and he immediately threw himself at my colleagues, stabbing one in the hand, and attacking the second on the neck and face," Christophe Crepin, a member of the nation's police union, told France 2 TV.

None of the injuries were life threatening. The attacker, who was shot and killed shortly after initiating the attack, is reported to be in his 20s, a French citizen who was born in Burundi. Investigators are still looking into whether the attack was motivated by Islamic extremism.

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