French mourners honor fallen officer

TREBES, France — A French bishop paid tribute Sunday to a police officer who lost his life after swapping himself with a supermarket employee held hostage by an Islamic extremist, saying his heroic sacrifice helped save the nation.

Survivors and families of the four victims of Friday’s rampage of attacks packed the Saint-Etienne-de-Trebes church for the special Mass honoring Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame.

Members of the region’s Muslim community were among those mourning at the special Palm Sunday service in the southern town of Trebes, near the medieval city of Carcassonne. The manager of the supermarket sat in the front row, alongside her husband, the town’s mayor.

The bishop of Carcassonne and Narbonne, Alain Planet, hailed Beltrame’s “extraordinary act, extraordinary devotion.”

“It is better that one man dies for the people, so that the nation doesn’t perish,” the bishop said. He added that the slayings have forced everyone to confront the reality of death and suffering across the world, noting turmoil in Sudan, the Middle East and elsewhere.

The Islamic State militant group claimed that the attacker — Radouane Lakdim, 25, born in Morocco — was answering its call to target nations in the U.S.-led coalition fighting militants in Syria and Iraq.

Lakdim was killed by police Friday after Beltrame helped officers storm the market. Lakdim also killed the supermarket’s butcher, a shopper and a passenger in the car that Lakdim had hijacked earlier in Carcassonne. He shot at riot police, one of whom was injured, then headed to the supermarket in Trebes.

Two people have been detained for questioning.

French police searching Lakdim’s home in Carcassonne found notes that referred to the Islamic State group and appeared to be a final testament, a judicial official said Saturday. Also found were a computer and telephone.

The head of France’s National Gendarmerie, Gen. Richard Lizurey, visited the post in Carcassonne where Beltrame had been stationed since August. He said that Beltrame’s “exceptional act” should serve as an inspiration to colleagues.

French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered a national memorial for Beltrame.