Driver Shouted 'Allahu Akbar' While Running Down City Pedestrians in a Half-Hour Spree, 11 Injured

A driver shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the greatest") while running down pedestrians in Dijon, France, Reuters reported.

The man injured 11 people Sunday, two seriously, during a 30-minute spree in which he targeted pedestrians in five different parts of the city, the BBC reported, citing French media. The lives of the two people seriously injured are reportedly not in danger.

Witnesses said the driver, about 40, also indicated he was "acting for the children of Palestine", an unnamed source close to the investigation told AFP news agency. He was arrested and is "apparently imbalanced," having spent time in a psychiatric hospital.

Two seriously injured after man drives into pedestrian crowd in Dijon, France https://t.co/AQuvNfJGND pic.twitter.com/UjCv9to4HK

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) December 21, 2014

A spokesman for the interior ministry told French TV he believed the attacker, known to law enforcement for minor incidents over the last two decades, acted alone.

It was the second incident of its kind this weekend. On Saturday French police fatally shot a man in Tours after he attacked them with a knife while shouting "God is great," the BBC noted. The man injured three officers before he was taken down. As with the Dijon incident, the man was characterized as "very unstable" by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, the BBC said.

More from the BBC:

France has the largest number of Muslims in western Europe — estimated at between five and six million.

There have been a number of "lone wolf" attacks by Islamists in recent years:

• Last year, a convert to Islam stabbed a soldier in Paris.

• The main suspect in the murder of four people at a Belgian museum this year is a French-born man who spent a year fighting in Syria.

• In 2012, Mohammed Merah shot dead seven people in the city of Toulouse before being killed himself in a police siege.

(H/T: Weasel Zippers)