Gunman among 4 killed in France
Policeman who swapped himself for hostage fighting for life
Three people were killed in southwestern France yesterday when a gunman held up a car, opened fire on police and then took hostages in a supermarket.
Police later stormed the supermarket in the small town of Trebes and the attacker was killed, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters on site. Daesh claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack. Collomb said that before the attacker seized hostages he killed one person while stealing a car with a bullet in the head in the nearby historic town of Carcassonne. He then shot at police officers before taking hostages at the supermarket.
UAE condemns attack
Sixteen people were hurt, two seriously, President Emmanuel Macron said. “Our country has suffered an Islamist terrorist attack,” the president said.
He said a policeman shot by the gunman after swapping himself for a hostage is “fighting for his life”.
“He saved lives and honoured his colleagues and his country,” Macron said, adding that the officer was “very seriously wounded”. Arnaud Beltrame, 45, was among a group of officers who rushed to the scene in Trebes.
The UAE has condemned the shooting attack. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation reaffirmed the UAE’s full solidarity with France in all its efforts to combat violence and terrorism.
Three people were killed in southwestern France yesterday when a gunman held up a car, opened fire on police and then took hostages in a supermarket.
Police later stormed the supermarket in the small town of Trebes and Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on Twitter that the attacker had been killed.
A source at the Interior Ministry said two had died at the hostage-taking in Trebes. “It is a provisional assessment as it could unfortunately get worse. Three people are wounded, including one of them seriously,” the source said.
Later, a police union official said the attacker had also killed one person with a bullet in the head in the nearby historic town of Carcassonne before the hostage-taking.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the incident appeared to be a terrorist attack and security forces were securing the area.
Eric Menassi, the mayor of Trebes, told BFM TV that the hostage-taker had been isolated with just one police officer in the supermarket besides him and all other hostages were free.
The station reported that the hostage-taker claimed allegiance to Daesh and that he had demanded the release of Salah Abdul Salam — the prime surviving suspect in Daesh attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015.
A 45-year-old lieutenantcolonel swapped himself in exchange for one of the hostages, a source close to the investigation said later, confirming information first published by Le Figaro newspaper.
More than 240 people have been killed in France in attacks since 2015 by assailants who pledged allegiance to, or were inspired by, Daesh.
First the gunman held up a car, killing one person and wounding another. Then he shot at police officers in Carcassone, wounding an officer in the shoulder before heading to Trebes about 8 km to the east, where two more died in the Super-U supermarket.