French police arrest man they say drove car at jogging soldiers

French police arrested aman suspected of driving a stolen car at a group of soldiers jogging outside their base in the foothills of the Alps onThursday, but authorities said the incident was not terrorism-related.

"This is quite clearly not a case of terrorism," Grenoble prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat told reporters. "There was no religious talk, no 'Allahu Akbar' pronounced," he said.

The incident caused a flurry of alarm,coming days after anISIS loyalistwent on a rampagein southern France on Friday, killing four peoplethe first militant attacksince President Emmanuel Macron lifted a state of emergency in November.

Soldiers had told police the driver firstpassed them shouting abuse in Arabicbefore returning andtrying to run them down, according to aspokesperson for the army's land regiments based in theIsreregion. No one was hurt in the incident.

"There were a good 10 of them jogging outside theirbarracks. He targeted one group of four, but none were hit," the spokespersonsaid.

The suspect was arrested in the stolen Peugeot 208 inGrenoble, about 15 kilometresnorth ofVarces-Allires-et-Risset, where the incident took place.

Coquillat said the 25-year-old man was known to authoritiesfor petty crime and had spent some time in prison. He was allegedly founddrunk, passed out at the wheel of the car.

"There was no radicalization during this period, and thisperson was totally unknown to counterterrorism services," Coquillat said.