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A gunman who took several hostages in a supermarket in the southern French town of Trebes has been killed by police, France's interior ministry confirms.
Key points:
- Prime Minister Edouard Philippe says the incident "seems to be a terrorist act"
- The suspect has been killed by police, the French interior ministry confirmed.
- Local media reports the suspect had links to the Islamic State group
The gunman had screamed "Allahu Akbar" and shot at police before taking the hostages inside the Super-U supermarket.
Two people were killed and three were injured in the hostage-taking, although a source at the interior ministry said that number could rise.
"It is a temporary assessment as it could unfortunately get worse. Three people are wounded, including one of them seriously," the source said.
Police in helmets and body armour took up positions around the supermarket before storming the premises and killing the gunman.
Eric Menassi, the mayor of Trebes, had earlier told BFM TV that the hostage-taker was alone with one police officer in the supermarket and all other hostages were free.
Mr Menassi also told LCI TV that the man had entered the shop screaming "Allahu Akbar, [God is greatest] I'll kill you all".
The station reported that the hostage-taker had claimed allegiance to Islamic State and that he has demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam — the prime surviving suspect in the Islamic State group attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015.
French President Emmanuel Macron said all evidence suggested the hostage-taking and shootings were a terrorist attack.
More than 240 people have been killed in France in attacks since 2015 by assailants who pledged allegiance to, or were inspired by the Islamic State group.
The man first shot at four police officers in the historic town of Carcassonne before barricading himself in the Super-U supermarket in Trebes, about 8 kilometres to the east.
A police union official said the attacker had killed one person with a bullet in the head in Carcassonne before the hostage-taking.
Shoppers hid in the cold room
Carole, who was shopping at the supermarket, described how people had taken refuge in a cold room.
"A man shouted and fired several times. I saw a cold room door, I asked people to come and take shelter," she told Franceinfo radio.
"We were ten, and we stayed an hour. There were more gunshots and we went out the back door."
French investigators believe they have identified the hostage-taker.
The man is known to the intelligence services and flagged in a database of radicalised Islamist militants, Franceinfo reported.
The Paris prosecutor's office said counter-terrorism prosecutors were investigating the incident but did not comment on the possible Islamic State group allegiance.
The UNSA police union also said on Twitter a police operation was underway after an individual had earlier shot at four officers in the Carcassone region, wounding one of them.
AP/Reuters
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, france
First posted