Ramming Attack While Shouting Allahu Akbar on French Island

A driver ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians on a French holiday island this morning, leaving at least five people injured before screaming 'Allahu Akbar' as he was arrested.

The car veered towards walkers and cyclists at about 8.45am today as the 35-year-old attacker attempted to hit 'everyone he encountered' on the island of Oléron off the West coast of France, officials say.

After the ramming, he tried to set fire to his vehicle, which contained gas cylinders, before he was tasered by police and arrested.

At least five are injured, two of them seriously, including an assistant to MP Pascal Markowsky of the conservative National Rally party. Initial reports suggested ten had been hurt in the attack.

French terror police and President Emmanuel Macron, who is on his way to Brazil, are monitoring the situation.

The horrific attack unfolded between the villages of Dolus-d'Oléron and Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron. The idyllic island is a top holiday destination for French and international tourists.

Witnesses described horrific scenes with one woman seen lying motionless on the ground.  

According to officials, the driver deliberately steered his vehicle toward pedestrians and a cyclist. A source said he hit victims across several miles as he drove along. The injured are said to be between the ages of 21 and 69 and are from the area.

Thibault Brechkoff, the mayor of Dolus-d'Oleron, told BFMTV that the man shouted 'Allahu Akbar' during his arrest. He also said the man tried to hit 'everyone he could encounter'.

The incident took place at around 8.45 a.m. on Wednesday between the villages of Dolus-d'Oléron and Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron in the Charente-Maritime region

The driver tried to set fire to his vehicle (pictured), which contained gas canisters, before he was tasered by police and arrested

Forensic police inspect the site where the burnt car was found in Saint-Pierre-d'Oleron on November 5, 2025, following the incident in which the car rammed into pedestrians and cyclists on the French Atlantic island of Oleron

Officers responded after a man ploughed his car into a crowd in France this morning, leaving five people with injuries

Police are said to have taken the suspect to the Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron police station for questioning. He is expected to be transferred to a more secure gendarmerie on the mainland. 

Pascal Markowsky, the National Rally MP for Charente-Maritime, has confirmed that one of his aides - named as Emma, 21 - was seriously injured during the attack. She suffered multiple fractures and a head injury and was airlifted to a hospital in Poitiers.

Markowsky told BFMTV that she 'lost consciousness instantly' after being struck. She regained consciousness and gave her name to responders before being hospitalised, he said. 

Isabelle Romain, a local, who witnessed the harrowing incident, said she saw a 'woman lying on her stomach, who was no longer moving and was in an unnatural position.' She added: 'I deduced that she was dead.' 

She said the victim, who is from 'a very well-known family' later moved and was airlifted to the hospital. 

A resident is reported to have said: 'An individual in a vehicle is hitting people in his path, and right here in my window, a pedestrian was hit and injured in Saint Pierre d’Oléron.'

French gendarmes work near the burnt car used by a driver who rammed into pedestrians and cyclists in Saint-Pierre-d'Oleron on the touristic French island of Ile d'Oleron, off the Atlantic coast, France

According to traffic information from Info Traffic 17, a first incident, which involved a vehicle and a pedestrian, occurred near the Intermarché supermarket in Dolus-d'Oléron.

A second, involving a pedestrian, happened on Route du Treuil, in the same town. The driver is said to have hit a cyclist.

A shopkeeper said she kept her customers in place for two hours as a precaution when she noticed 'very strong police presence' around 15 minutes after the attacks. 

On X, the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez wrote: 'This morning, a driver struck several pedestrians and cyclists in Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron and Dolus-d'Oléron. 

'Two victims are in critical condition and three others were injured. The driver was apprehended by the police. An investigation is underway. At the request of the Prime Minister, I am going there.'

The president of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, wrote on X: 'I want to send all my thoughts to the people injured this morning on the island of Oléron, victims of an attack of unprecedented violence. 

'I also wish to express my solidarity with MP Pascal Markowsky and his parliamentary team, one of whose members is seriously injured.' She also thanked the police and emergency responders who worked at the scene. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15260577/Driver-ploughs-crowd-people-French-holiday-island-injuring-10-shouting-Allahu-Akbar.html

The unspoiled Ile d'Oléron is one of the most beautiful in France, and hugely popular with holidaymakers from the UK.

It is the second largest island in France, after Corsica, and is 19miles in length and 5 miles wide.

Crisscrossed by cycle paths, Oléron features pine forests, dunes and sandy beaches, as well as numerous fishing ports.

It follows a series of bomb, gun and knife attacks carried out by Islamic State and al–Qaeda operatives across France, including ones involving vehicles being used as weapons.

Conservative commentators and politicians spoke out to decry the perpetrator, the attack, and to note in particular how Islamist terror has spread to even France profonde, the deepest and most picturesque parts of the country. Éric Zemmour, a essayist and polemicist-turned candidate for the French Presidency said with his characteristic style: “Just a few years ago, places like the Île d’Oléron were refuges for those who still wanted to live in a preserved France. Today, the situation is such that we see jihadists emerging everywhere in France.”

Jordan Bardella, the Parliamentary leader of the National Rally party which is has seen one of its employees critically injured, called for a strict punishment for the perpetrator of what he called “blind and deliberate violence”. His party colleague, MP Sébastien Chenu reflected that nowhere is safe from “this phenomenon” anymore and called on the state to fight the “Islamist hydra”.

He said: “The Islamist threat has never been stronger. This is a war that must be waged here and now. Our country has already paid a heavy price to Islamism”.