By KUNA,
Paris : A French sergeant has been charged with unintentional wounding after he fired live ammunition into a crowd of visitors at the Carcassonne base in southern France last Sunday, judicial sources confirmed Wednesday.
Already later Tuesday, the Commander of the French Army, General Bruno Cuche, a veteran of several foreign campaigns, resigned his post after the 17 visitors were shot and wounded in what was meant to be a demonstration exercise in anti-terrorism.
Several children were wounded in the incident, which initially left four in serious condition, including a baby.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin has denied that President Nicolas Sarkozy was seeking to get rid of Cuche and he said the French Commander had ‘spoken of his resignation” immediately after the incident and a second time somewhat later.
The charged sergeant from the Third Infantry Parachute Regiment allegedly confused live ammunition he had been issued with at an earlier time with blanks that were being used for the “open house’ exercise in his barracks.
The question is being raised about how he still had live ammunition in his possession at that time and why he had pointed his weapon at the civilian visitors who were not involved in the exercise.
Both judicial and military enquiries are underway to determine the exact circumstances of the incident.