French soldiers attacked near Jewish center

An attacker with a knife hidden in his bag attacks three soldiers on an anti-terror patrol in front of a Jewish community center in southern France on Tuesday, two police officials say.

Sarah Baron, a police union official in the city of Nice, says the attacker was detained after the attack near the Galeries Lafayette department store. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi says the attacker had an identity card with the name Moussa Coulibaly.

The surname, which is relatively common for families of Malian descent, is the same as that of the man who seized hostages in a kosher supermarket in Paris and gunned down a policewoman last month.

Another police official says the attacker pulled a knife at least 20 centimeters long out of a bag and set upon one of the soldiers, injuring him in the chin. He then swiped two other soldiers — one in the cheek, the other in the forearm — before being apprehended by riot police stationed near the building, which houses the city’s Jewish community center.

— AP