{"id":17031,"date":"2026-05-17T04:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T04:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/17031\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T04:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T04:38:18","slug":"at-least-eight-injured-in-car-ramming-attack-attempted-stabbing-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/17031\/","title":{"rendered":"At least eight injured in car ramming attack, attempted stabbing in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least eight people were injured, four of whom are in serious condition, in a car ramming attack in the northern Italian<\/a> city of Modena on Saturday, police said.<\/p>\n

Among the injured, four were in serious condition, and two were airlifted to a hospital in Bologna, around 40 kilometers from Modena, the city’s mayor, Massimo Mezzetti, told RaiNews24.<\/p>\n

According to several reports, one of the women injured lost both her legs.<\/p>\n

“It seems (the driver) deliberately drove onto the sidewalk, hitting several people,” Mezzetti said.<\/p>\n

The driver, a 30-year-old of North African origin, who had moved to the province that includes Modena, attempted to flee after the car crashed into a shop window, Mezzetti told broadcaster RaiNews24.<\/p>\n

\"CCTVCCTV footage shows a car ramming into pedestrians in Modena, Italy May 16, 2026 in this frame grab from social media video. (credit: Social Media\/Handout via REUTERS)<\/p>\n

The fleeing driver was stopped by some pedestrians, one of whom he attacked with a knife<\/a> and slightly injured. The driver was later arrested by the police.<\/p>\n

He had been receiving treatment for psychiatric disorders, a source in Italy’s Interior Ministry said, without elaborating on the man’s motivations or whether terrorism was a factor.<\/p>\n

The man who was stabbed by the driver told RaiNews24 he heard people falling and threw himself to the ground as the car approached. He said the driver appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Authorities have not confirmed this.<\/p>\n

Politicians condemn attack, call for full accountability<\/p>\n

“I express my solidarity with those who were injured and their families,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni<\/a> posted on social media platform X\/Twitter.<\/p>\n

“What happened in Modena is extremely serious. I trust the person responsible will be held fully accountable for his actions,” she added.<\/p>\n

Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-immigrant League Party, also posted on X, highlighting the driver’s North African origins and calling him a “second-generation criminal.”<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar<\/a> also condemned the attack, expressing “solidarity to the Italian government and to the families of the victims in this difficult time, and to wish a speedy recovery to all those who have been struck by this terrible event.”<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Sharren Haskel echoed Sa’ar’s sentiment, coining the incident a “terror attack” and affirming that Israel’s “thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.”<\/p>\n

“Terror once again targeted innocent civilians in the heart of Europe,” she wrote. “When people chant to ‘globalize the intifada’, this is what it means. “<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least eight people were injured, four of whom are in serious condition, in a car ramming attack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12536,12537,325,5,12449,12538],"class_list":["post-17031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-attack","tag-car-ramming","tag-giorgia-meloni","tag-italy","tag-stabbing","tag-stabbing-attack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}