Prime Minister Manuel Valls sought to ease concerns in France on Tuesday over a spate of seemingly unrelated but bloody attacks, saying up to 300 soldiers would be deployed around the country to ensure security, reports The Telegraph.
"The number of patrols will be increased during this [Christmas] period. Two hundred to 300 soldiers will be deployed in the coming hours," he said on television.
French government officials said two rampaging drivers who injured a total of 23 people in nearly identical attacks were apparently mentally ill, and are downplaying any links to terrorism.
But counterterrorism investigators are probing the first of three attacks in recent days – the stabbing of police officers that left the suspect dead.
"These are individually serious and worrying events. Even if there is no link between them, I understand the worry of people faced with shocking images and the sadness of the victims," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday.
The attacker Sunday in Dijon had been admitted to hospital for mental illness 157 times since 2001, said prosecutor Marie-Christine Tarrare. The man called out "God is the greatest" in Arabic to give himself the courage to continue, she said.
Similarly, the attack at the Christmas market in Nantes "seems to be that of an unbalanced mind," said Bernard Cazeneuve, France's interior minister.
In that incident, 10 people were injured when a van driver crashed into the crowd late Monday before stabbing himself 13 times, Valls said.