Paris, October 31: Two days after an extremist attack in the French city of Nice, a shooting was reported in Lyon, the town located close to the Swiss border. An orthodox priest wa wounded in the attack, preliminary reports citing police officials claimed. No fatalities were recorded so far, an officer privy to the matter was reported as saying. French President Emmanuel Macron Vows to Take New Measures to Fight Terrorism.

The attacker who fired upon the priest succeeded in fleeing away from the spot, a police officer told news agency AFP. Officials so far could not confirm whether the attacker was motivated by religious extremism. However, the "terror angle was not ruled out", local media reports said.

Attacker Fled: Police

A team of police officials have scrambled in and around Lyon to nab the attack at the earliest. The shooting incident in Lyon comes two days after a 21-year-old Tunisian migrant killed three persons at a church in Nice, and beheaded one of the victims. He was later non-fatally shot in a combat and apprehended by the police.

Earlier this month, an 18-year-old migrant from Chechnya killed Samuel Paty, a French teacher, after he showed blasphemous sketches to his students during a civics class. The killing was reported on October 16, outside a school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a suburb of Paris.

This was followed by the stabbing of a veiled Muslim woman near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, with the attackers raising racial and communal slurs against her.

The spree of violence was kicked off after the Charlie Hebdo magazine published blasphemous sketches, which deeply offended the Muslims of France -- who form the country's largest religious minority -- as well as the adherents of Islam in all parts of the world.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 31, 2020 09:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).