Elite forces storm market and kill ‘IS’ hostage taker

France: Three dead after carjacking and long stand-off in ‘terrorist attack’

An armed man went on a rampage in southern France, carjacking a vehicle, shooting at police and taking hostages in an hours-long standoff at a supermarket.

He killed three people and wounded others before being shot dead when French police stormed the supermarket.

Among the seriously wounded was a French police officer who offered himself up in a hostage swap.

President Emmanuel Macron said it appeared to be a terrorist attack.

Islamic State claimed that the attacker – a 26-year-old known to po-

“Police heard shots and decided to storm the supermarket”

lice for petty crime and drug dealing – was one of its “soldiers”.

The drama began when the attacker hijacked a car near the mediaeval city of Carcassonne yesterday morning, killing one person in the car and injuring the other, according to French interior minister Gerard Collomb.

The attacker, identified as Redouane Lakdim, then fired six shots at police officers who were on their way back from jogging near Carcassonne.

The police were wearing athletic clothes with police insignia. One officer was shot in the shoulder but the injury was not serious. Lakdim then went to a supermarket in the nearby town of Trebes, shooting and killing two people in the shop and taking an unknown number of hostages.

Special police units converged on the scene while authorities blocked roads. Police were able to evacuate some shoppers at the supermarket.

One officer offered himself up in a hostage swap and was seriously injured, Mr Collomb said.

The officer managed to leave his mobile phone switched on after the swap, establishing contact with officers outside the supermarket. Mr Collomb did not say how the police officer was wounded.

Through that phone, police heard gunshots inside the building and decided that elite forces had to storm the supermarket, killing Lakdim, Mr Collomb said.

He said two other officers were wounded during the assault.

STANDOFF: Police gather outside the supermarket in Trebes during the hostage-taking incident