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Gunman shot dead by police after three killed in French hostage-taking | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Police have shot dead a gunman who killed three people and injured three others in a series of events that culminated in a hostage-taking at a supermarket in the town of Trèbes, near Carcassonne in southern France. | Police have shot dead a gunman who killed three people and injured three others in a series of events that culminated in a hostage-taking at a supermarket in the town of Trèbes, near Carcassonne in southern France. |
A police union official, Yves Lefebvre, confirmed the suspect was shot dead by police. | |
A major counter-terrorism police operation took place in the town after the armed man hijacked a car, killing one person, and then attempted to run down four police officers on their morning run near Carcassonne, opening fire and injuring one officer in the shoulder. | |
The same individual, who local officials said had sworn allegiance to Islamic State, reportedly then drove to the supermarket in Trèbes. He entered the busy store at about 11am local time and immediately opened fire, killing two people, before taking several others hostage. | |
The suspect was named France’s interior minister as Redouane Lakdim, 26, from Carcassonne. He was said to be French-Moroccan and was known to security services, French media reported. | |
Visiting the scene, Gerard Collomb said the gunman was acting alone, and described him as a small-time drug dealer known to police who had been under surveillance, but said that nothing had indicated he was about to carry out this attack. | |
Describing the events on Friday, Collomb said gendarmes had acted quickly to evacuate some of the people inside the supermarket. One gendarme offered to exchange himself for a woman hostage. The gunman agreed, and the gendarme stayed with him while others were evacuated. | |
Later, when a shot was heard inside the store, security forces immediately intervened and shot the gunman dead, Collomb said. The gendarme who had offered to take the place of a hostage was there until the end of the three hour ordeal and had been badly wounded. The interior minister praised him for his “heroism”. | |
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, speaking at the EU summit in Brussels, said that everything suggested the incident was “terrorist” in nature and he would return to Paris to coordinate the response. | The French president, Emmanuel Macron, speaking at the EU summit in Brussels, said that everything suggested the incident was “terrorist” in nature and he would return to Paris to coordinate the response. |
The hostage-taking in the Trèbes supermarket is the first major suspected terrorist incident since Macron lifted France’s two-year state of emergency last autumn and toughened anti-terror laws. | |
The state of emergency was declared by the former Socialist president François Hollande on the night of the Paris attacks of November 2015, in which 130 people were killed, and was ended by Macron in October. | The state of emergency was declared by the former Socialist president François Hollande on the night of the Paris attacks of November 2015, in which 130 people were killed, and was ended by Macron in October. |
BFM TV reported that the hostage-taker had asked for the release of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect from the jihadi group that carried out the November 2015 Paris attacks. Abdeslam is in solitary confinement in a French high-security prison as the investigation into the Paris attacks continues. | |
The mayor of Trèbes, Eric Ménassi, told LCI TV the man had entered the shop screaming “Allahu Akbar, I’ll kill you all”. | The mayor of Trèbes, Eric Ménassi, told LCI TV the man had entered the shop screaming “Allahu Akbar, I’ll kill you all”. |
France’s interior ministry said three people had been injured, one seriously. Police surrounded the branch of Super U and authorities warned people to avoid the area. | France’s interior ministry said three people had been injured, one seriously. Police surrounded the branch of Super U and authorities warned people to avoid the area. |
The interior minister, Gérard Collomb, was heading to the scene on Friday after talking with Macron. | The interior minister, Gérard Collomb, was heading to the scene on Friday after talking with Macron. |
French police have undertaken training on hostage-taking situations in supermarkets in recent years. In January 2015, after the Paris terror attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a gunman, Amédy Coulibaly, held hostages at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four people before police shot him dead. | French police have undertaken training on hostage-taking situations in supermarkets in recent years. In January 2015, after the Paris terror attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a gunman, Amédy Coulibaly, held hostages at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four people before police shot him dead. |
The EU offered its full support to the French people, the European commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said at the EU summit. | |
“France has again been hit by a cowardly and bloody act,” Juncker told an EU summit press conference, and offered “full support to the French authorities and the French people”. | |
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