French soldier mistakenly shoots gun outside Jewish center

Serviceman guarding Chabad House accidentally discharges weapon three times; no reports of injury, damage

A French soldier guarding a Jewish community center in Nice accidentally discharged his weapon outside the building.

The soldier fired three shots from his firearm on Thursday outside the city’s Chabad center, according to Le Parisien. The incident ended without injury or damage to property.

The weapon was pointing downward and the volley hit the ground, according to the Nice edition of the France 3 television channel.

The southern city is among dozens of locales in France where troops were deployed outside Jewish institutions following the slaying of four Jews in a kosher shop near Paris on January 9 by an Islamist terrorist.

Another 13 people died in attacks that the assailant, Amedy Coulibaly, and two of his accomplices perpetrated on January 7 and January 8.

On January 15, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said 10,000 troops have been deployed around Jewish potential targets, adding he intended to keep them there for several months at least.