CAEN, France, Aug 27 — French police arrested a Russian man of Chechen origin after a deliberate car ramming in the north of the country killed two men, both believed to be Afghans, and wounded nine others, officials said Thursday.

The car ploughed into a group of people late Wednesday who were outside a bar in the Normandy port of Caen after a dispute, said the prefect of the department of Calvados David Claviere.

The events occurred after a fight, according to an initial police source, when the suspect was set upon by several people.

He returned with his car, driving onto a bus lane in front of Caen station and deliberately driving into the men and other people standing under a bus shelter, a police source said.

The Caen prosecutor’s office said there was “apparently... no terrorist motive, but the investigation is only just beginning”.

The suspect, lawfully residing in France, was not known to intelligence services and had never been convicted of a crime, according to authorities.

One man was confirmed to have died on Wednesday with a police source saying he was Afghan, aged 35.

The second person, aged 28, is also believed to be Afghan, said the regional prosecutor Joel Garrigue. He added that the nine wounded, aged 17-36, are all men.

Seven of the wounded, who were of various nationalities, were in critical condition, he added.

Several are suffering “fractures to the lower limbs”, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

According to a police source, the victims include men of French, Egyptian, Bangladeshi, and Sudanese nationalities.

The 26-year-old driver, a Russian national from the mainly Muslim north Caucasus region of Chechnya, subsequently fled the scene.

He was apprehended in the neighbouring port of Ouistreham by security forces following a major search operation, the gendarmerie said.

During questioning, the suspect “reported having been the victim of violence on the station forecourt prior to the incident,” said the prosecutor.

“His statements will, of course, be thoroughly verified,” the prosecutor added.

The man was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, he said. — AFP