School run terrorist
IS fanatic drops off sister – then kills 3 and dies in France shootout
AN Islamic State gunman dropped his little sister at school before launching a killing spree in rural France yesterday. Redouane Lakdim went on a shooting rampage that left three dead before seizing hostages in a supermarket.
A soldier who swapped himself for a female captive was among 16 wounded by the gun, knife and grenade-wielding attacker.
The 26-year-old, who was later shot dead, lived with his parents and his four sisters in a council flat in Carcassonne, south-west France. A neighbour said she saw him ‘taking one of his younger sisters to school on Friday morning’.
His murder spree began around 11am when he hijacked a car in the town, shot the passenger in the head and wounded the driver. A quarter of an hour later, he fired six shots while shouting ‘vengeance for Syria’ at four police officers on a morning jog. One of the bullets caught an officer on the shoulder, but the injury is not life-threatening.
Lakdim then drove to the Super U supermarket in nearby Trebes, where he yelled ‘Allahu Akbar, I’ll kill you all’ before gunning down a butcher and a shopper.
A police source said: ‘He was shouting slogans about Syria. He said he was a soldier of IS.’
Terrified customers fled the store or hid, and amid the chaos Lakdim took around 20 hostages. He threatened to kill them unless the authorities released Salah Abdeslam – the last surviving suspect from the 2015 terror attacks in Paris which left 130 dead. Abdeslam is currently on trial in Belgium.
Police brought Lakdim’s mother to the store in a vain attempt to persuade him to surrender.
Shortly after 12.30pm, as elite paramilitary police surrounded the Super U, most of the hostages were released, but Lakdim held one back as a human shield.
An exceptionally brave 45-yearold military officer then swapped himself for the terrorist’s last captive. The lieutenant-colonel left his mobile phone connected, allowing police outside to listen in during the hours-long stand-off.
Last night he was hailed a hero by French interior minister Gerard Collomb, who said the siege ended when shots were heard and police stormed the building, shooting Lakdim dead.
The military officer was found seriously injured. Last night French president Emmanuel Macron said he was ‘fighting for his life’. A policeman was also injured in the final showdown.
Mr Collomb claimed Lakdim was a small-time drug dealer, but added: ‘We did not think he had been radicalised.’
However, it emerged Lakdim was subject to an S-file, which means intelligence services considered him a security threat. He had briefly been in prison in 2016.
Le Parisien newspaper said Lakdim was also suspected of travelling to Syria.
Last night Islamic State claimed responsibility for the atrocity, while Mr Macron branded the bloodshed an act of terrorism.
France has been on high alert after a string of attacks since 2015.