Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ISIS militant shoots three dead in supermarket hostage terror
Jihadi killed as armed police storm building
A JIHADI was shot dead by police after killing three people and injuring 16 others during a rampage in the South of France yesterday.
Redouane Lakdim, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State, took hostages as he laid siege to a supermarket in Trebes for three-and-a-half hours.
The 26-year-old Moroccan, armed with a handgun, knives and grenades, killed the store’s butcher and another victim, said to be a shopper.
Lakdim earlier fired at police officers out jogging in nearby Carcassonne, hitting one in the shoulder, before hijacking a car, shooting dead the driver.
The attacker then drove to the Super U store, and charged in yelling: “I’ll kill you all. You’re bombing Syria, you’re going to die.”
More than 20 staff and customers escaped before brave police officer Arnaud Beltrame swapped himself for one of the 10 hostages, only to be shot.
Lt Col Beltrame, 45, left his phone on and colleagues, who were listening in, stormed the store on hearing gunfire. Last night the policeman was hailed as a hero as he fought for his life. Lakdim reportedly told negotiators he wanted the release of Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the 2015 Paris terror attack. One shopper, Christian Guibbert, said he called police and managed to escape through a side door. He said the killer had appeared “very agitated”, holding “a gun in one hand and a knife in the other”. Drug dealer Lakdim lived with his parents and four sisters in a flat in Carcassonne, where the rampage began at about 11am. Interior minister Gerard Collomb confirmed Lakdim had been on a watch list since his release from prison 18 months ago. He said: “We monitored him and thought there was no radicalisation.” PM Theresa May offered her condolences, adding: “We stand in solidarity with our friends and allies in France.” Last night one man was arrested in connection with the attack.