Police stormed the supermarket after one officer exchanged himself for a hostage.
A gun-wielding extremist claiming allegiance to ISIS took multiple hostages at a supermarket in southern France Friday, killing at least three people and injuring another 16 before police shot him dead.
The attacker, identified as 26-year-old Redouane Lakdim, holed up at the Super U in Trèbes, a small city near the Pyrenees Mountains, around 11 a.m.
Lakdim screamed „Allahu akbar“ — Arabic for „God is great“ — and proclaimed himself a „soldier of the Islamic State“ as he stormed into the small-town supermarket.
„You are bombing Syria and you are going to die,“ the attacker said before opening fire, one witness who escaped told regional newspaper L’Independent .
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Around 20 shoppers and staff reportedly escaped from the grocery store after running for their lives, though it was uncertain how many hostages were taken during a standoff with police.
The attacker was killed by officers around 2:30 p.m., authorities said, praising one „gravely wounded“ police officer who exchanged himself for a hostage during the chaotic standoff.
„He saved lives,“ French President Emmanuel Macron said of the officer.
It was not immediately clear where the three victims were, as beyond those shot in the supermarket, investigators believe Lakdim opened fire on people in the nearby Carcassonne and hijacked a car, killing at least one.
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A police officer was also wounded while walking in the medieval tourist town, and police union officials said on Twitter that the bullet hit 1.5 inches from his heart.
During the standoff, Lakdim demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving assailant of the Nov. 13,2015, attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead. The interior minister suggested, however, that Abdeslam’s release wasn’t a key motive for the attack.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the bloody attack through its Aamaq news agency late Friday, announcing that Lakdim carried out the attack in response to the terrorist group’s call for attacks in countries participating in the U. S.-led military coalition in Syria and Iraq.
Investigators said Lakdim had been a small-time drug dealer and under police surveillance for radicalization.
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French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said that he acted alone.
France has been a frequent target of Islamic extremist terrorists in recent years, with hundreds killed in the Charlie Hebdo and Nov. 13 shootings of 2015 and Nice truck attack in 2016.
France has been on high terror alert since the attacks, which left more than 200 people dead.
While France hasn’t had an attack in several months, „the threat remains high,“ Macron said, describing ongoing risks from „several individuals who radicalized themselves.“
With News Wire Services, Chris Sommerfeldt
