Suspected driver of Paris vehicle attack on soldiers arrested

French security forces and emergency vehicles surround a car, center, on a highway between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais in northern France that authorities say is used in an attack on soldiers near Paris on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017. French authorities say the driver is arrested and injured by police fire, and is considered the chief suspect in the attack on the soldiers. [Photo: Imagine China]

A man in a getaway vehicle was injured during his arrest on the A16 motorway in northern France following a car attack on military soldiers in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine, north of Paris) on Wednesday morning, according to local media.

An exchange of fire took place between the police and the suspected driver of the car, which had ploughed into six soldiers earlier on Wednesday. Four soldiers sustained light injuries and two were seriously wounded in the deliberate attack. 

The suspect was shot and wounded, as was a police officer. Investigators are trying to verify whether the driver is indeed the one who carried out the attack.

According to local newspaper Le Parisien, the BMW was spotted in the early afternoon on the A16 motorway between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais.

The plate number and a sticker on the car corresponded to the vehicle described by witnesses.

The 37-year-old man was arrested by BIS agents and is "likely to be the perpetrator" of the attack, according to a judicial source quoted by Le Parisian.

An investigation has been opened for attempted murders in connection with terrorism.