PARIS — An armed assailant rammed an explosives-laden car into a police van on France’s iconic Champs-Elysees on Monday afternoon. <br /> <br />A convoy of police vans was travelling on the Champs-Élysées around 3:40 p.m. when an assailant drove a car carrying weapons including gas cylinders, automatic pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle struck the leading van. <br /> <br />According to Le Parisien, the 31-year-old suspect from Île-de-France had an S-file, meaning he was known to the French government for potential terrorism-related concerns but the evidence was not sufficient to make an arrest. <br /> <br />The assailant’s car struck the van on its right flank and continued to push the van forward before skidding to a stop. The car then billowed orange smoke after the collision. The assailant reportedly exited the vehicle but died of his injuries before he was able to inflict injury on anyone. <br /> <br />This is the second attack on French police this month after a man used a hammer to attack officers patrolling the famous Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on June 6.
