The Local France

Timeline: How jihadists have targeted soldiers and police in France

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 11:32:29 +0200

A knife-wielding man attacking a soldier on patrol at Chatelet metro station in Paris is believed to have been the latest in a string of terror incidents targeting police and soldiers in France.

France: Anti-terror soldier attacked while on duty

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 17:06:33 +0200

A female anti-terror soldier was attacked on Tuesday in the southern city of Lyon, but police said the assault was "not terror-related".

French soldier knifed by men 'angry over Syria bombings'

Fri, 27 May 2016 13:21:12 +0200

A French soldier claims to have been attacked with a blade by two men who reproached him for France's military intervention in Syria.

Man charged over car attack on French soldiers

Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:43:55 +0100

A Frenchman of Tunisian origin was charged on Sunday with attempted homicide after he tried to run down troops guarding a mosque in the southeastern town of Valence, a prosecutor said.

Mythical foreign legion keeps drawing recruits

Tue, 14 Jul 2015 13:05:18 +0200

You've seen the movies and heard the rumours, but what is the truth behind the French Foreign Legion? Read on to find out.

French soldiers 'sexually abused five-year-old girl'

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 10:43:49 +0200

France has suspended two of its soldiers over allegations they sexually abused children, including a five-year-old girl, in the west African country of Burkina Faso, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

France urges sex abuse soldiers to come forward

Mon, 04 May 2015 10:45:24 +0200

France's defence minister has urged soldiers "to give themselves up" if they are guilty of sexually assaulting hungry Central African kids, as questions remain on why the probe into the alleged crimes is taking so long.

Hollande: 'No mercy' if troops guilty of rape

Thu, 30 Apr 2015 17:02:59 +0200

UPDATED: France has denied any cover-up after allegations its soldiers raped young boys in the Central African Republic. Paris has opened up a formal investigation, with President Hollande promising "no mercy" if the troops are found guilty.

Schoolboy 'Mr T' sparks French terror alert

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 11:31:00 +0100

Police in the French city of Nice, which is on high alert for terror attacks, launched a massive manhunt on Tuesday after witnesses reported seeing a man cruising around town armed with a Kalashnikov. A schoolboy had some explaining to do.

Uproar over French wind park plan for D-Day sites

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:56:00 +0200

A controversy is brewing over plans to construct 75 windmills in Normandy, next to the site of the D-Day landings in WWII. Opponents of the French project say the windpark would be an act of desecration.

Soldier held in hunt for Merah accomplices

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:48:00 +0100

A serving French soldier was arrested on Wednesday for questioning in connection with a hunt for accomplices of Mohamed Merah, the Islamist gunman who killed seven people in southwestern France last year.

French death toll in Mali rises to five

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 07:46:02 +0100

A French corporal was killed tracking down jihadist fighters in their northern Mali mountain bastions, bringing to five the number of French deaths since Paris launched a military offensive in the country two months ago.

Scooter-riding gunman kills two French soldiers

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:20:00 +0100

A gunman riding a scooter shot dead two French soldiers and seriously wounded another in a hail of bullets on a street in the southwestern city of Montauban on Thursday, officials said.