Car plows into pedestrians in Australia's Melbourne, up to 15 hurt

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A car plowed into pedestrians at a crowded intersection in the Australian city of Melbourne on Thursday, injuring up to 15 people, police said, adding they had arrested the driver and a second man.

Australian police stand near a crashed vehicle after they arrested the driver of a vehicle that had ploughed into pedestrians at a crowded intersection near the Flinders Street train station in central Melbourne, Australia December 21, 2017. REUTERS/Luis Ascui

Police did not suggest a possible motive for the incident, which had chilling echoes of several attacks by Islamist militants in various parts of the world over the past year or two.

The Victoria State ambulance service said it had taken 13 people to hospital, including a pre-school child with a serious head injury, while two people were being treated at the scene.

“The driver of the vehicle and a second man have been arrested and are in police custody,” police said in a statement, adding that a crime scene had been established.

In January, four people were killed and more than 20 injured when a man deliberately drove into pedestrians at a spot just a few hundred meters away from the Thursday incident.