Six soldiers wounded in car ramming attack in Paris, France

French soldiers stand guard near the scene of the attack. Reuters. 

Six soldiers were wounded in a car ramming attack in Paris, France. Reuters. The vehicle was parked in an alley and accelerated when a group of soldiers left their barracks for a patrol. Two of the soldiers suffered major wounds while the other four were lightly injured. Officals called the act premeditated and a terrorism investigation has begun. 

AP reports that possible suspect for the attack was arrested on the A16 highway. The arrest was violent and involved gunfire from the police. 

My Comment:

Looks like another "lone wolf" terror attack in Paris, which is something I have had to write far to many times recently. Paris has gone from a city of romance and tourism to a city of terror, and this latest attack is just another in a very long line of attacks. 

Fortunately this attacker was rather foolish in his methods. Though car ramming attacks can be deadly, the way this attacker struck was not smart. He was very close to his victims and instead of being in motion when his attack started he had to accelerate quickly to build up speed. This may have saved lives because it did not allow him to build up enough energy to actually kill anyone. 

The choice of the target might have been the issue. I am guessing that the area where the attack occurred wasn't near a open street where one could gain a lot of speed quickly. Paris is, like most European cities, a very cramped and crowded place with little room to maneuver. But there has to be more open targets that are more vulnerable to attack. We are lucky that this attacker did not choose one. 

Another issue might have been the vehicle chosen as a weapon. Though I haven't been able to find the exact model of the vehicle, most reports describe it as a BMW car. Presumably it was a small one, and that is what doomed this attack. Had the attacker chosen a SUV or truck, he probably would have been able to kill someone, though he may have run into issues due to the slower acceleration. Thankfully, he didn't, perhaps because his BMW was the only car he had access to. 

I haven't seen any reports of the French soldiers returning fire. That surprises me and makes me wonder what their rules of engagement are. You would think that even under normal circumstances a driver running over a bunch of people and then fleeing the scene would warrant fire, if for no other reason but to stop them from continuing the attack. Perhaps the soldiers hesitated because they thought it was an accident but if they were prevented from firing because of the ROE, then perhaps the rules need to be changed. I see little point in deploying soldiers in Paris if they aren't allowed to fire at people that try to kill them.  

I won't comment much on the report of a suspect being captured. Given the nature of Paris, it is possible that the incident was unrelated. Still, it also is a major incident given how rarely European police shoot suspects. I am guessing that even if the man in that incident wasn't responsible for this attack, he was a serious criminal if the French police had to resort to shooting him.

 I hope it was the guy though because this kind of attack is endlessly repeatable. Only two things can stop these kinds of ramming attacks. Either the suspect has to be killed or captured or the vehicle he is driving has to be disabled. And the 2nd out can be reversed simply by stealing a new vehicle, perhaps one with a little more power to it. 

As for responsibility for this attack, I am guessing it wasn't part of a larger plot. Had the attacker gotten any help he probably would have been given funds to rent or purchase a more dangerous vehicle. That doesn't seem to have happened so I am guessing that this attacker was just a nobody that was inspired by ISIS propaganda. I guess it could be some other terrorist group, but ISIS is still the most likely subject. 

I do have to say that despite this attack, ISIS efforts at terrorism seemed to have slipped a bit lately. There hasn't been a serious attack since the attacks in the UK earlier this year, in Europe at least. The United States has remained calm and the big Australian terror plot was broken up. 

I think that the major battlefield reversal in Syria, Iraq and Libya is the main cause of this. ISIS has lost the tax base it used to pay for terror plots, has been cut off from the rest of the world after Turkey close the borders and lost their most important launchpad for attacks in Europe, which was their base in Sirte, Libya. In short, ISIS is losing and because it is losing it can't afford to launch terror attacks globally. Time will tell if this continues to be the case, and we will still have to worry about lone wolf attacks, but I am starting to think that we might have weathered the worst of the storm... Let us all hope that I am right!