New Delhi:
A car on Monday crashed into a police vehicle and burst into flames at the Champs-Elysées roundabout just 250 yards from the French presidential palace where Emmanuel Macron resides.
The car struck a French Police van in the central Parisian district of France at around 3:40 pm (local time) and caught fire.Police seized the driver immediately after the incident and the entire area was cordoned off.
"The driver deliberately rammed the gendarmes' van," according to police sources quoted by BFM TV.
The driver is "on the ground... seriously injured," another police source said, without indicating whether the incident was an accident or a deliberate act. Nobody was hurt in the incident and the motives were unknown. However, the French police have launched a terror investigation.
"Today at around 3.40pm, a police squadron was going down the Champs-Elysées. A Renault Mégane overtook it on the right and hit the van at the front of the police cortege," said a police spokeswoman.
"The Renault Mégane caught fire. Police started sealing off the area. No military personnel or tourists were injured. The individual is apparently dead. An inquiry has been launched. It appears he was armed," she added.
The apparent attack took place hours after a man ploughed into people leaving a mosque in London.
It's a developing story and more details will follow.