The accident took place at around 3.30pm today, after an army fighter jet lost a replica bomb while it was flying over a car factory called Faurecia in Loiretaine, Nogent-sur-Vernisson. A spokesman for the air force said that the bomb was used in practice sessions but fell onto the roof, causing injuries. It is not yet known what condition the injured people are in. The accident sparked panic among the French police and firefighters who feared that it would explode - despite it being a replica.

Around 20 police officers and 40 firefighters rushed to the scene. The French police - Gendarmes - asked the company officials to evacuate the premises. At least 150 employees were taken away from the scene in a bid to keep them safe. The fighter jet was supposed to drop the bomb on a training ground located in Suippes, near Reims, France Bleu reports. The air force has issued a formal apology to the people who were hurt. An investigation has been launched by BEAD-air - the French office for accident investigations.

Anthonin Bourgerette, a warehouse worker who works opposite the Faurecia plant told France Bleu: “Two fighter jets of the army have passed, we heard a big boom. “The detonation was relatively strong, it surpassed the noise of the two planes passing by, firefighters and gendarmes came in. “Initially, the gendarmes asked us to close the site, before telling us that it was was not worth it, that there was nothing urgent. " Colonel Olivier Celo, a spokesman for the Air Force told France Bleu: “Inert munition simulates weapons that we use in real conditions. "They have the aerodynamic characteristics of what are called bombs, but they are not, they are exercises, there are no explosives in them. Of course, "this element was absolutely not intended to be dropped at the place in question (Nogent-sur-Vernisson, Ed) but on the field of fire Suippes, the side of Reims" . The Colonel added that this type of accident is "exceptional, very very rare". </s> A military plane mistakenly dropped a replica bomb onto the building of the Faurecia automobile parts factory in Nogent-sur-Vernisson in France due to inaccurate geolocation, local media reported.

The incident occurred on April 10, in the afternoon, when a French Air Force fighter jet Dassault Mirage 2000D was taking part in a regular practice session.

Although the replica bomb did not have a detonator, it still inflicted serious damage to the building and prompted the evacuation of some 150 workers and injured two of them.

Some 20 police officers and 40 firefighters were called to the scene. The victims were taken to the nearest hospital.

The French Air Force took responsibility for the incident and apologized for the mistake of their pilot.

The military prosecutor's office promised to analyze the causes of what had happened to avoid similar incidents in the future. It also pledged to punish those responsible for the mistake. </s> The accident took place at around 3.30pm today, after an army fighter jet lost a replica bomb while it was flying over a car factory called Faurecia in Loiretaine, Nogent-sur-Vernisson.

A spokesman for the air force said that the bomb was used in practice sessions but fell onto the roof, causing injuries.

It is not yet known what condition the injured people are in.

The accident sparked panic among the French police and firefighters who feared that it would explode - despite it being a replica. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption The device, full of screws, nuts and bolts, went off in Lyon city centre last week

French police have arrested four people after a suspected parcel bomb exploded in Lyon last week, injuring 13 people.

The device, packed with screws and ball bearings, detonated outside a bakery on Friday afternoon.

One of those arrested, a 24-year-old man, is the suspected bomber, prosecutors say. Another man and a woman were also reportedly detained.

Police had been hunting for a man seen cycling near the scene of the blast wearing a balaclava and rucksack.

Anti-terrorist prosecutors are leading the investigation, co-ordinating with Lyon police and France's internal security service, the DGSI.

What do we know about the suspects?

French media report that one suspect is an IT student of Algerian nationality. A source told news agency Reuters that police arrested him in Lyon after tailing him in the street. It reportedly decided not to arrest him in his apartment in case there were explosives in the building.

The second suspect, according to local press, is a minor who attends a school in the city.

Two other people, a man and a woman, have also been arrested. They are reportedly the parents of one of the suspects.

Last week, police released a picture from CCTV footage of a person they believe carried out the bombing.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Police called for information on this man after the blast

What do we know about the attack?

The explosion struck near the corner of two crowded pedestrian streets in Lyon's historic city centre.

Investigators have recovered screws, ball bearings, along with a printed circuit, batteries and a remote-controlled trigger device.

Denis Broliquier, the city's district mayor, told press that "the charge was too small to kill," and a government source told AFP news agency it had been a "relatively weak explosive charge".

Those hurt, including a girl aged eight, appear to have suffered superficial injuries.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner confirmed one of the arrests in a Tweet on Monday, saying joint action by several agencies had been "decisive".

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The last time a parcel bomb had exploded in France was in 2007 when a device killed one person and injured another in front of a law office in Paris. Police never found the bomber.

Jihadist gun and bomb attacks have killed more than 250 people in France since 2015 and the country remains on high alert, with military patrols a regular feature of security in cities including Lyon. </s> French police hunting a driver who rammed a car into a group of soldiers in Paris early Wednesday morning have shot, wounded and arrested a man on a highway north of the city.

A Lille policeman was injured by stray gunfire during the arrest, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor told CNN.

The man, who was unarmed and hit with five bullets while attempting to evade police on the A16 motorway, is in a serious condition, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV. The broadcaster reported that he was arrested between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais.

The suspect, born in 1980, reportedly drove his vehicle into a police car before being arrested, according to BFMTV. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe confirmed that the person arrested is the same man who carried out the attack.

France’s counter-terror unit is investigating the attack, in a suburb of northwest Paris, which left six soldiers injured, three seriously, according to Paris police. The soldiers’ injuries are not life-threatening.

Police had been searching for a BMW car and its driver who rammed into a group of soldiers outside a barracks at the Place de Verdun in Levallois-Perret around 8 a.m. local time.

Minister of the Interior Gerard Collomb said the attack was a “deliberate act.”

“The car accelerated towards the soldiers for five meters in order to hit them,” he told reporters. “We do not believe this could be an accident.”

The mayor of Levallois-Perret, Patrick Balkany, told BFMTV that the car was “pre-positioned” in a small alleyway, waiting for troops from the 35th Infantry Regiment to come out of the building.

The group of soldiers is part of France’s Operation Sentinel, set up in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in January 2015.

Levallois-Perret — a quiet and affluent neighborhood — is home to the headquarters of the DCRI, France’s counter intelligence agency.

One eyewitness, who gave her name as Zakia, told BFMTV that she was awakened by a “boom” before running to her balcony.

“I saw a soldier on the ground … then the fire service and paramedics arrived,” she said. “I saw the whole scene, and I’m shocked.”

Another unnamed woman told BFMTV she heard a “large boom, from, say, a crash, a car accident.”

“We heard all the ambulances arriving… We saw all the emergency services vehicles: firefighters, police, paramedics. We saw two men on the ground, being cared for by firefighters and doctors.”

France still in state of emergency

France has been in a state of emergency introduced after a terror attack in Paris killed 130 people in November 2015.

This is the sixth incident to affect French security forces in 2017 alone.

The incidents have taken place at high-profile tourist destinations such as the Louvre, the Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Paris’ Orly airport. </s> A car rammed into a group of soldiers in a Parisian suburb on Wednesday, injuring six before speeding off in what officials identified as a suspected terrorist attack.

The vehicle, a BMW, was parked in an alley before it accelerated into the soldiers as they left their barracks to go on patrol, said Patrick Balkany, mayor of Levallois-Perret.

“The vehicle did not stop. It hurtled at them ... it accelerated rapidly,” he told broadcaster BFM TV.

Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said the driver was on the run and being sought, and an investigation was under way to determine “the motives and circumstances” for what she called a “cowardly act.”

A justice ministry official said counter-terrorism investigators had been assigned to the case.

The incident follows a string of Islamist-inspired attacks on soldiers and police, who have been deployed in large numbers nationwide after calls by militant group Islamic State for attacks on France and other countries bombing its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

The soldiers hit on Wednesday were rushed to hospital and police said two of the six were seriously injured.

Balkany said that what he called a “disgusting” act of aggression was “without any doubt” premeditated.

Jean-Claude Veillant, resident of an apartment building directly above the scene, witnessed part of the attack.

“I heard a loud noise, the sound of scraping metal. Shortly after, I saw one of the badly wounded lying in front of the Vigipirate (army patrol) vehicle and another one behind it receiving treatment,” he told reporters.

France remains on maximum alert following a string of attacks over the past two years in which Islamist militants or Islamist-inspired attackers have killed more than 230 people.

Most were civilians killed in Paris in early and late 2015 as well as in the southern seaside city of Nice in mid-2016, Since then a string of attacks have primarily targeted police and soldiers.

This year, assailants attacked soldiers at the Louvre museum site in Paris in February and at Orly airport in March. An assailant shot a policeman dead on the Champs Elysees avenue in the capital in April. Another man died after ramming his car into a police van in June and soldiers disarmed a knife-wielding man at the Eiffel Tower earlier this month.

The car in Wednesday’s attack, which police said was dark-colored and probably a BMW, was parked near the edge of the Place de Verdun square in the center of Levallois-Perret, a relatively affluent suburb on the western edge of Paris.

The area, quieter than normal in peak summer holiday season, was cordoned off after the incident, which happened at around 8:00 a.m., police said.

Levallois-Perret is about 5 km (3 miles) from city center landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Elysee Presidential Palace. </s> French police have arrested two men after a suspected parcel bomb exploded in Lyon last week, injuring 13 people.

The device, packed with screws and ball bearings, detonated outside a bakery on Friday afternoon.

One of the men arrested, a 24-year-old, is the suspected bomber, prosecutors say. No details have been given on the other.

Police had been hunting for a man seen cycling near the scene of the blast wearing a balaclava and rucksack.

Anti-terrorist prosecutors are leading the investigation, co-ordinating with Lyon police and France's internal security service, the DGSI.

The explosion struck near the corner of two crowded pedestrian streets in Lyon's historic city centre.

Investigators have reportedly recovered screws, ball bearings, along with a printed circuit, batteries and a remote-controlled trigger device.

Denis Broliquier, the city's district mayor, told press that "the charge was too small to kill," and a government source told AFP news agency it had been a "relatively weak explosive charge".

Those hurt, including a girl aged eight, appear to have suffered superficial injuries.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner confirmed one of the arrests in a Tweet on Monday, saying joint action by several agencies had been "decisive".

Gérard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon, told local media that a second man was also arrested without giving further detail.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The last time a parcel bomb had exploded in France was in 2007 when a device killed one person and injured another in front of a law office in Paris. Police never found the bomber.

Jihadist gun and bomb attacks have killed more than 250 people in France since 2015 and the country remains on high alert, with military patrols a regular feature of security in cities including Lyon. </s> A French official says police have arrested the chief suspect in a car attack on soldiers, and the man was wounded in a gunfight during his capture.

The judicial official said the man was the driver of a BMW that rammed into a group of soldiers Wednesday in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. Six soldiers were injured in the attack.

The official provided no other information about the suspect or his condition. Two police officials said the arrest occurred on the A16 highway in northern France.

The officials weren’t authorized to be publicly named discussing an ongoing investigation.

The driver’s motive is unclear, but officials said he deliberately aimed at the soldiers, and counterterrorism authorities opened an investigation. It is the latest of several attacks targeting security forces guarding France over the past year. While others have targeted prominent sites like the Eiffel Tower, Wednesday’s attack hit a leafy, relatively affluent suburb that is home to France’s main intelligence service, the DGSI.

Three of the soldiers suffered light injuries while three were more seriously injured, but their lives are not in danger, according to the Defense Ministry.

They were from the 35th infantry regiment and served in Operation Sentinelle, created to guard prominent French sites after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks in 2015.

Witnesses described seeing a BMW with one person inside waiting in a cul-de-sac near a building used for Sentinelle soldiers, according to two police officials. One official said the attacker hit just as a group of soldiers emerged from the building to board vehicles for a new shift.

The street is normally guarded by posts that are removed when vehicles move in and out, according to residents. The driver must have known exactly when to strike, said resident Jean-Claude Veillant, 70.

Veillant said he saw two uniformed soldiers prone on the ground when he came down to the entrance of his 13-story building at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday morning.

“It was horrible,” he said, explaining that both soldiers appeared to be in bad shape and that one of them was unconscious.

“They must’ve really planned this,” he said.

Levallois Mayor Patrick Balkany called it an “odious attack” and said it was “without a doubt deliberate.”

“A BMW pre-positioned itself in the alley (where the barracks is located) and barreled into them,” he said on BFM television. He said the car “accelerated very quickly when they left” the building.

A security perimeter was installed around the scene, and the defense minister and interior minister are expected to visit wounded soldiers Wednesday afternoon.

French counterterrorism prosecutors opened an investigation aimed at pursuing perpetrators on charges of attempted murder of security forces in connection with a terrorist enterprise, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The move means authorities believe the attack was deliberate and planned with a terrorist motive.

French President Emmanuel Macron is holding a previously scheduled top-level security meeting Wednesday morning. He has pledged to boost military spending and entrench security measures after a string of Islamic extremist attacks since 2015. </s> Six soldiers have been hurt, two of them seriously, after they were hit by a car in Paris on Wednesday morning.

The incident happened in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret at about 8am local time (4pm AEST).

In a message posted to Twitter, Paris police said an "intervention is under way", with police still searching for the car involved.

Both of the seriously-injured soldiers have been taken to hospital, but authorities said their conditions are not life-threatening.

French newspaper Le Monde reported the soldiers are part of Opération Sentinelle, a domestic anti-terrorism operation set up in the wake of the Paris attacks in November 2015.

Large numbers of police have been sent to the site.

Patrick Balkany, the local mayor for Levallois-Perret, said he had "no doubt" the soldiers were targeted deliberately.

He said a BMW was parked in an alley near the soldiers' barracks and appeared to be waiting for them to come out. Once they emerged to go on patrol, the car drove into them.

"Without any doubt, it was a deliberate act," Mr Balkany told BFM TV. "The BMW accelerated very quickly the moment they came out.

"This happened in the middle of the town. It happened very quickly. It's an odious act of aggression."

The incident follows the arrest of a man at the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, after he attempted to force his way through a checkpoint with a knife.

French authorities have since opened a counter-terrorism investigation, after the man said he intended to attack a soldier.

More to come
A French military jet accidentally drops an inert bomb on a car factory in Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France. Two are injured and gendarmes evacuate 150.