(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Sixteen people were hurt, two seriously, along with the three killed in the shooting spree yesterday in southwest France by a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, President Emmanuel Macron said.
A security source said the 16 referred to people that had been referred to an emergency psychological support cell.
Five people were shot and wounded, including two in a critical condition.
A police officer who took the place of a female hostage is 'fighting for his life, Macron said in a televised address following the shootings in Carcassonne and Trebes, hailing the man as a hero.
The other person gravely injured was the driver of a car hijacked by the gunman.
The passenger of the car was killed.
'Our country has suffered an Islamist terrorist attack, the president added.
The gunman a 26-year-old drug dealer monitored as a possible Islamic extremist carried out three separate shootings, ending his rampage by taking hostages at a supermarket in Trebes.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the gunman, Radouane Lakdim, whom security sources said had Moroccan nationality, had been monitored on suspicion of having been radicalised but had ultimately been deemed not to pose a threat.
'We had monitored him and thought there was no radicalisation, the minister said. 'He was known for possession of drugs. We couldn't have said that he was a radical that would carry out an attack.
France remains on high alert after a wave of religious extremist attacks that has claimed more than 240 lives since 2015.
'Every day we detect facts and foil new attacks. Alas, this one struck without us being able to counter it, Collomb said.
Lakdim first killed one person with a bullet in the head while stealing a car in Carcassonne, which is one of France's top tourist attractions.
He then shot at four police officers who were jogging before taking hostages at the supermarket in Trebes, about 8km to the east, where two people died.
Witnesses said about 10 people in the supermarket found refuge in its cold storage room.
A police lieutenant-colonel swapped himself in exchange for one of the hostages, Collomb said, adding that the 45-year-old had been seriously wounded.
One supermarket worker said some shoppers had escaped from the building after the gunman shouted 'God is greatest in Arabic.
'I was in my department when I heard gunshots. I went to the area of the gunshots and came face to face with the person, said the employee, who gave his name only as Francois.
'He raised his gun and fired, I ran away, he shouted ‘Allahu Akbar' and spoke about the Islamic State. I then evacuated the clients, about 20, who were in my area and we went quietly out of the back, said Francois, who has been employed at the supermarket since last November.
Collomb said the man had demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam the prime surviving suspect in the Islamic State attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015.
Abdeslam, a French citizen born and raised in Brussels, went on trial in Belgium last month.
He is accused of 'attempted murder in a terrorist context over a Brussels shootout in March 2016, four months after he fled Paris on the night of the carnage during which his brother was among the suicide bombers.
France is part of a US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and has thousands of soldiers in West Africa fighting Al Qaeda-linked militants.
In February, Collomb said French security forces had foiled two planned attacks so far this year as Islamic State militants set their sights on domestic targets in response to the group's military setbacks in Iraq and Syria.
Despite Collomb's comments, Le Parisien newspaper wrote that Lakdim, a man of Moroccan descent, was known to French DGSI intelligence services.
Without naming sources, it said he was active on Salafist social networks.
He was also suspected, without any certainty, of having travelled to Syria, Le Parisien said, adding that the family flat, where he would have been living with his parents and three or four sisters, was raided by police on Friday afternoon.
'This is a small, quiet, town. Unfortunately the threat is everywhere, Collomb told reporters in Trebes.
The mediaeval city of Carcassonne lies in the wine-growing region of Languedoc but this is also one of the poorest areas in France, with unemployment about three percentage points above the national average.
Nearby Beziers is one of the biggest cities controlled by the far-right, while the smaller Languedoc town of Lunel further east is a breeding ground for many French religious militants who travelled to Syria to fight.
Almost six years ago to the day, Islamist gunman Mohammed Merah killed seven people in the Toulouse region, about 90km from Carcassonne.
He was killed by security forces after a more than 30-hour stand-off.
MENAFN2303201800670000ID1096644441
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.