Rural France suffers triple killing in ‘home-grown’ Islamist attack
PARIS — A radicalized petty criminal killed three people in a series of attacks in southern France on Friday, before police shot him dead after an hours-long siege.
At least two more people were seriously injured in the attacks, President Emmanuel Macron said after meeting security officials in Paris.
They included a senior police officer who had surrendered to the attacker in return for the release of civilian hostages he was holding in a supermarket.
The officer, who was “fighting against death” on Friday evening, had “saved lives and did honor to his corps and our country,” Macron declared.
The Moroccan-born perpetrator had shouted “Allahu akbar” and declared himself a soldier of the Islamic State extremist organization before opening fire at the supermarket, chief anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said.
Macron said the “Islamist terrorist attack” was a reminder that the threat level remained high due to “homegrown” attacks.
More than 240 people have been killed in acts of terrorism in France since January 2015, most of them claimed by Islamic State. Friday’s attack was the first since October to cost lives.
Macron said that a claim of responsibility by Islamic State was “currently being analyzed.”