At least two people have been killed after a gunman claiming allegiance to Islamic State took hostages at a supermarket in France following the shooting of a police officer.
Elite police surrounded the store in the town of Trebes, in the south west of the country, on Friday morning as shots were reported.
The hostage-taker – said to be a Moroccan national in his 30s known to the intelligence services – reportedly shouted Allahu Akbar as he burst into the Super U store. He is said to have demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect in the 2015 Paris attacks.
Police confirmed at least two people – thought to be a shop worker and customer – have been killed and a dozen more injured. Around 50 people fled the supermarket, but a police chief warned the casualty toll is likely to rise, saying: “We are unfortunately expecting to find more victims.”
Shortly beforehand, a police officer jogging with colleagues in the city of Carcassonne, around a 15-minute drive away, was shot and injured. The same gunman is believed to have then shot a driver in the head, before stealing their vehicle to drive to Trebes to carry out the attack.
According to French media, the supermarket hostage-taker claimed he is inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). The operation to capture the holed-up attacker was ongoing on Friday afternoon. He is believed to be alone with one police officer in the store.
The man “entered the Super U supermarket at around 11.15am and shots were heard,” a French security source said. He is said to have been armed with a gun, knives and a hand grenade.
“We unfortunately presume one person has been killed, but we cannot bring a doctor on site to check,” Jean-Valery Lettermann, the regional police chief, added.
Describing the situation as “serious”, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said officials “believe that this is a terrorist act”.
Police have found a body in bushes in Carcassonne and another man there who suffered bullet wounds is being treated in hospital, local media reported.
The gunman is believed to have shot a motorist in the head – and also injured the passenger – before stealing the car to drive to the Trebes supermarket.
Bruno Bartocetti, the regional representative of the SGP police union, said the Carcassonne attacker is believed to the same person who has taken hostages in Trebes.
Local media report that the Trebes attacker is a Moroccan man who lived in Carcassonne.
One woman who was shopping in the Trebes supermarket when the attacker burst in said she and other customers hid in a freezer room for an hour before managing to escape.
“A man started shouting and fired a gun several times,” the shopper, who was not named, told France Info radio.
“I saw a door into a freezer room and I told other people around me to come and take refuge there. There were ten of us and we stayed there for an hour.
“There were more shots and we eventually got out through an emergency exit at the back.”
Another witness said the attacker was armed with a gun, knives and a hand grenade.
The attacker holed up in the supermarket in Trebes has reportedly claimed allegiance to Isil. If that is confirmed, the incident would be the first deadly jihadist attack in France since last October, when two young women were stabbed to death outside the main railway station in Marseille.
TelegraphUK
