Car plows into soldiers in southeastern France

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - A manhunt is underway in southeastern France after a driver on Thursday morning tried to plow his car into soldiers jogging near a military base, just south of Grenoble, in Isere.

"A motorist tried to ram soldiers of the 93rd RAM of Varces while jogging. The investigation into this heinous act is entrusted to the PJ of Grenoble by the prosecutor of Grenoble," the Isere prefecture tweeted.

The incident happened just before 9 am local time (07:00 GMT) near the barracks at Varces-Allieres-et-Risset, French radio FranceInfo reported.

The troops were jogging by the side of the road and had to throw themselves into a ditch to avoid the car. No injuries were recorded but the soldiers were left shocked, the radio reported.

It is not clear at this stage what the driver's motive was, but the incident comes less than a week after last Friday's killing of four people near Carcassonne.

Also injured last week was a police officer who was part of a group of fellow officers jogging when the suspect in the killings allegedly shot at them.

In recent years Daesh terrorists have adopted the tactic of driving vehicles into crowds.