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A 52-year-old man was seriously injured after being attacked with an axe, knives, and a baseball bat near a mosque in France on Monday night, in what investigators believe was a dispute between worshippers over seating arrangements during prayers.
The assault took place around 9:10 p.m. about 600 meters from the Bellevue mosque in Nantes, according to the city’s public prosecutor, Antoine Leroy.
The victim was struck multiple times in the back of the head by two men armed with knives and a hatchet, while a third attacker hit him on the arm with a baseball bat.
The man, who suffered serious injuries, was taken to Nantes University Hospital. He has since been declared stable and was able to give his version of events to investigators, Leroy said.
One suspect has been taken into custody, while the others remain at large.
According to Le Parisien, witnesses to the attack are being interviewed by officers who have opened an investigation for “attempted intentional homicide with a bladed weapon.”
According to initial findings and statements made by the victim, the attack stemmed from a conflict “concerning the places occupied within the mosque during prayers by each of the protagonists, all being worshippers of the same mosque,” the prosecutor explained.
