A soldier and an elderly Muslim man were slightly injured when a man tried to run his car into troops protecting a mosque in Valence in southern France on Friday, mayor Nicolas Daragon told the iTELE news channel, reports Reuters.
The driver was also injured when the soldiers shot at him, Daragon said.
The man was taken to hospital, and the mayor said his identity, motives and psychiatric state were not yet known.
The 72-year-old worshipper was hit in the calf by a stray bullet shot by the soldiers, he said.
"The four soldiers were in front of the mosque, a moderate, quiet mosque, in between two prayers, at a time when many worshippers arrived," Daragon said. "A car drove at them."