| A summary of yesterday’s events. |
[ARABNEWS] La Belle France’s interior minister confirmed the death of the hostage taker at the supermarket in Carcassonne. The man who killed at least three people in attacks in southern La Belle France was a 26-year old known for petty crimes and possession of drugs, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told news hounds, adding that he acted alone.Collomb named the attacker as Redouane Lakdim and said he was from nearby Carcassonne, where the attacks started.
"He was known for petty crimes. We had monitored him and thought there was no radicalisation," Collomb said.
Emanuel Macron on a trip to Brussels said that his country is still facing high levels of terror threat. Macron confirmed that the terror attack has killed 3 and injured 16.
Police have jugged
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
a woman connected to Lakdim, a French prosecutor said.
Earlier the police launched a raid on a supermarket in southern La Belle France after two people were killed in the attack and three were maimed by a gunman who was screaming "Allahu Akbar". The gunman then fired shots at the police and took hostages in a supermarket in southwestern La Belle France.
A source at the Interior Ministry said three had died. "It is a temporary assessment as it could unfortunately get worse. Three people are maimed, including one of them seriously," the source said.
The station reported that the hostage-taker has claimed allegiance to ISIS and that he has demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam - the prime surviving suspect in the ISIS attacks that killed 130 people in Gay Paree in 2015.
More than 240 people have been killed in La Belle France in attacks since 2015 by assailants who pledged allegiance to, or were inspired by, ISIS.
The man first shot at four coppers in the historic town of Carcassonne before barricading himself in the Super-U supermarket in Trebes, about 8 km (5 miles) to the east.
A police union official said the attacker had killed one person with bullet in the head in Carcassonne before the hostage-taking.
The French policeman shot by Redouane Lakdim after swapping himself for a hostage in the siege at a supermarket in southwest La Belle France is "fighting for his life," President Emmanuel Macron said.
"He saved lives and honored his colleagues and his country," Macron said in a televised address, adding that the officer was "very seriously maimed."
Arnaud Beltrame, 45, was among a group of officers who rushed to the scene in the town of Trebes after the attacker, who claimed allegiance to the ISIS group, stormed the store and fired on shoppers and staff before taking them hostage.
"He is currently fighting for his life and all our thoughts go out to him and his family," Macron said.