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A gunman linked to Islamic State, IS killed three people and injured 16 before being shot dead by police in supermarket in Trebes in southern France.
French police gunned down attacker after entering the supermarket, following an hours-long standoff, reports DW.
French President Emmanuel Macron called it an “Islamist terrorist attack.” A police officer who swapped places with a hostage earned applaud.
French President Emmanuel Macron Friday evening said that the gunman allegedly linked to the “Islamic State” had killed three and wounded 16. The first fatality came early in the day near Carcassonne when the attacker stole a car.
LIVE l En direct du ministère de l'Intérieur suite à l’attaque terroriste à Carcassonne et à Trèbes.https://t.co/iYpTWlvBRs
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 23, 2018
The two other fatalities occurred later in a supermarket in Trebes in southern France, where the attacker took customers and employees hostage.
The news agency of the “Islamic State” (IS), Amaq, claimed IS responsibility for the attack. It stated that its “soldier” had acted in response to calls to target “countries of the coalition,” referring to the US-led international coalition, of which France is a part, that has been battling the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq since 2014.
“Our country has suffered an Islamist terrorist attack,” Macron added in his remarks, while noting that investigators were still checking whether IS was behind the attack. The president also said that investigators are looking into how the attacker obtained his gun and when he had become radicalized.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day on Friday, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb identified the attacker as 26-year-old Redouane Lakdim, a “small-time” drug dealer. Lakdim was “known for petty crime,” Collomb said. “We followed him and we thought there was no radicalization.”
Collomb added the attacker acted alone and had been “already under surveillance when he suddenly decided to act.”
According to an anonymous source cited by French broadcaster BFM TV, the attacker was requesting the release of Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect for the 2015 Paris attacks that claimed 130 lives.
J'invite chacune et chacun de nos concitoyens à être conscient de la gravité de la menace terroriste mais à être également conscient de la force et de la résistance que notre peuple a démontrées chaque fois qu'il a été attaqué.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 23, 2018
