France gun attack: men fire on mosque in Avignon

TWO hooded gunmen have opened fire on a crowd outside a mosque in France, injuring several and sparking a major police operation.

Authorities placed the scene, in the city of Avignon in the country’s south, in lockdown and launched a manhunt for the attackers, who fled.

Witnesses say the men, wearing hoods, arrived at Arrahma mosque in a Renault Clio around 10.30pm local time (6.30am AEST), leapt out and began firing at random.

One was armed with a handgun and the other with a rifle, local newspaper La Provence reports.

Several people were injured, including a seven-year-old in a nearby apartment that was peppered with stray bullets and shrapnel.

Police rushed to the scene and remain there, media say.

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The Mirror reports people were leaving a late night service at the mosque when gunfire rang out. The perpetrators quickly fled.

According to a translated article from La Provence, police have dismissed the possibility that this was a terrorist attack. It quoted a magistrate as saying the likely motive as “a settling of accounts or a quarrel between young people”.

The report continued: “Everything suggests that the faithful who were in front of the mosque were not targeted by the two shooters, but rather young people who were grouped in the street at that moment

Source: France gun attack: men fire on mosque in Avignon | Perth Now