A soldier guarding a mosque in France shot and wounded a driver who rammed him with a car on Friday, as the country remains on high alert after the Paris attacks, local authorities said.

A soldier guarding a mosque in France shot and wounded a driver who rammed him with a car on Friday, as the country remains on high alert after the Paris attacks, local authorities said.

Police said the driver deliberately drove his Peugeot into the soldier in the southeastern city of Valence.

The soldier is among thousands protecting sensitive sites around the nation after the deadly terrorist assaults in Paris in 2015.

The impact of the car left the soldier with injuries to his knee and shin.

Local authorities said the driver was shot in the arm and the leg and was seriously wounded. A stray bullet hit a passerby in the calf.

Police said the driver's motive remained unclear.