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Trèbes siege: France prosecutors treating supermarket hostage situation as terror incident after gunman shoots at police Trèbes siege: Two dead in France supermarket terror attack after gunman shoots at police and takes hostages
(35 minutes later)
At least one gunman has fired on police out jogging in Carcassonne in the south of France before taking hostages at a supermarket in nearby Trèbes, according to local media reports. Two people are dead after a gunman claiming allegiance to Isis took up to eight hostages in a supermarket in southern France in an apparent terror attack, according to local media and French officials.
Prosecutors are treating the incident as a possible terrorist attack and police said eight people had initially been taken hostage. It is now thought the hostage-taker is alone inside the shop with a police officer, with all others freed. The attacker struck at the Super U shop in Trèbes, near Toulouse, on Friday morning and is thought to be alone inside the shop with a single police officer after releasing a number of other hostages, according to the town’s mayor.
France’s interior ministry confirmed a response was underway by police and security forces while the country’s prime minister said the situation was “very serious”. French police confirmed to The Independent that two people had died in the attack and that a police officer and a woman were injured.
The UNSA police union said on Twitter that a police operation was underway after an individual had earlier shot at four officers in the Carcassone region – a short drive from Trèbes – injuring one of them. AFP reported the gunman had claimed allegiance to Isis and French prime minister Edouard Philippe said the attack “seems to be a terrorist act’’.
Two people inside the Super U supermarket have suffered bullet wounds, the mayor of Trèbes told the French BFM TV channel. Prosecutors are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
Interior minister spokesman Frederic Delanouvelle told AP there was one suspect and that police were trying to subdue him. Interior minister spokesman Frederic Delanouvelle told AP there was one suspect and that police were trying to subdue him.
The gunman has claimed allegiance to Isis, AFP reported, citing French prosecutors. Counter-terror officials are investigating, according to Reuters. Earlier on Friday in the nearby town of Carcassonne, a short drive away, at least one gunman opened fire on a group of police officers and wounded one, according to reports and the UNSA police union.
Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of the SGP Police-FO union, suggested the same person had been involved in both incidents. The suspect fired six shots at police officers on secondment from Marseilles who were out jogging, wounding one in the shoulder, he said.
He said the gunman had shot dead one person and seriously wounded another inside the supermarket, AP reported.
Local newspaper L’Independant reported that two men had been involved in the initial shooting.Local newspaper L’Independant reported that two men had been involved in the initial shooting.
Police have surrounded the Super U shop in Trèbes and firefighters are reportedly also at the scene.
The town is located roughly mid-way between Toulouse and Montpellier.
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