Levallois-Perret, Dhu-AlQa'dah 17, 1438, Aug 9, 2017, SPA -- French police shot and arrested a man suspected of slamming a BMW into soldiers in a Paris suburb on Wednesday, injuring six of them in what appeared to be a carefully timed ambush before speeding away, officials said. The driver's motive was unclear, but officials said he deliberately aimed at the soldiers, and counterterrorism authorities opened an investigation. The attacker and soldiers were hospitalized, AP reported. On a quiet summer morning, the suspect was seen waiting in a BMW in a cul-de-sac near the Levallois city hall and a building used as a staging point for soldiers in France's Sentinelle operation to protect prominent sites from attack, according to two police officials. A group of soldiers emerged from the building to board vehicles for a new shift when the car sped up and rammed into them, its force hurling the soldiers against their van, according to one official. The interior minister said the car first approached slowly then sped up about five meters (yards) from its target. Authorities checked video surveillance of the area and police fanned out and stopped numerous cars as they searched for the attacker. Most were released. Then, on the A16 highway near the English Channel port of Calais, police stopped what the prime minister called the "principal suspect" in the attack. Images of the arrest scene show emergency vehicles surrounding a black BMW with a damaged windshield, on a cordoned-off highway in the midst of verdant fields. Police officers opened fire during the arrest to subdue the man, and the suspect was injured along with a police officer hit by a stray bullet, according to a judicial official. Three of the soldiers hit in the morning attack were slightly injured and three were more seriously hurt, but their lives weren't in danger, according to the Defense Ministry. The defense minister said she received "reassuring" news about their condition Wednesday afternoon. --SPA 20:52 LOCAL TIME 17:52 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w463257