Extremist shot dead after taking hostages

Armed man kills three people before being shot in suspected terror incident

A gun-wielding extremist unleashed bloodshed in a quiet corner of southern France, killing three people as he hijacked a car, opened fire on police and took hostages in a supermarket.

The 26-year-old attacker, who called himself a “soldier of Islamic State” when he entered the supermarket, was killed as police stormed the store with the help of an officer who had switched places with a hostage and suffered lifethreatening wounds – one of 16 people injured.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the rampage near Carcassonne and the town of Trebes.

It was the deadliest attack in France since Emmanuel Macron became president last year.

The officer who offered to be swapped for a female hostage was identified as Arnaud Beltrame.

He managed to surreptitiously leave his phone on so police outside could hear what was going on inside the supermarket – and crucially, decide when to storm it. “He saved lives,” Mr Macron said. He said investigators will now focus on establishing how the gunman, identified as Redouane Lakdim, obtained his weapon, and how he became radicalised.

He was known to police for petty crime and drug-dealing and was under surveillance – but not suspected of extremist links.

According to French interior minister Gerard Collomb, during the standoff Lakdim requested the release of Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving assailant of the November 13 2015 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

A customer in the supermarket described the assailant as a “very agitated man shouting several times ‘Allahu akbar’”.

More than a dozen people were injured by the attacker before police stormed the supermarket.

Pictures: AP. It was reported that during the standoff the attacker requested the release of the sole surviving assailant of the November 13 2015 attacks in Paris.