Investigator probes driver's 'self-radicalisation' after mob attack in France

A driver who rammed his car into a crowd in western France on Wednesday is suspected of "self-radicalisation", French Interior Minister Laurent Núñez said on Thursday.

"Based on several factors that exist in this person and the fact that he actually shouted 'Allahu Akbar', there are quite clear and explicit religious references in his case," he added.

However, he added that it was unclear at this stage whether religious motivations were behind the attack, in which five people were injured on the island of Oleron off France's Atlantic coast.

"The Office of the National Prosecutor for Terrorism will determine, on the basis of a psychiatric examination carried out on Wednesday after two searches and a review of telephone records, whether these elements were the trigger for the act of violence we witnessed," the minister assessed.

Two of those injured in the attack are still in "intensive care", he added.

(reuters, max)