France supermarket hostage taking – Live Updates

23/03/2018

This news has been read 4498 times!

TOULOUSE, France, March 23 (Reuters) – At least one person was killed when a man took hostages in a supermarket in the southwestern French town of Trebes on Friday, the mayor told BFM TV. The station reported that the hostage-taker has claimed allegiance to Islamic State.

Mayor Eric Menassi also told LCI TV that the man had entered the shop screaming “Allahu Akbar, (God is greatest) I’ll kill you all”.

Another person was hurt but their condition was not known, Menassi said. The hostage-taker was now alone with one police officer in the supermarket and all other hostages had been freed, he added.
LCI TV said the second victim was also dead and that 12 people were injured.
“All the information we have as I speak lead us to think that this would be a terrorist act,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said.

More than 240 people have been killed in France in attacks since 2015 by assailants who pledged allegiance to, or were inspired by, Islamic State.
A police source had said earlier that eight people were being held hostage and that the hostage-taker had shot at a police officer.
Reuters pictures showed police in helmets and body armour in positions around the Super-U supermarket.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said counter-terrorism prosecutors were investigating the incident but did not comment on the possible Islamic State allegiance.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry had said security forces were carrying out an operation at a supermarket in southern France. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb was on his way.
“There is an ongoing situation … in the town of Trebes, where shots have been heard and a man entrenched himself in a supermarket,” Philippe said. “It’s a serious situation.”
The UNSA police union also said on Twitter a police operation was underway after an individual had earlier shot at four officers in the Carcassone region, wounding one of them.

—–

PARIS (AP) — An armed man took hostages in a supermarket in southern France on Friday, killing at least one and seriously wounding another. He had earlier opened fire on police nearby.
The attacker was still in the supermarket and it was not clear how many other people were inside with him.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said all information suggested it “seems to be a terrorist act.”
The man first fired six shots at police officers who were on their way back from jogging near the city of Carcassonne on Friday morning, said Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of SGP Police-FO police union. One police officer had a shoulder injury but it was not serious, Lefebvre said.
The suspect then went to a Super U supermarket in the nearby small town of Trebes, where he shot and killed one person and shot another who is in life-threatening condition, Lefebvre said.
Special police units were sent to the scene and local authorities blocked roads and urged residents to stay away.

Interior Minister spokesman Frederic Delanouvelle told The Associated Press that there is one suspect and police are trying to subdue him. He provided no details of how many people were taken hostage.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said counterterrorism investigators were taking over the probe but did not provide details about why. The move came after unconfirmed media reports that the assailant claimed connections to the Islamic State group.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb headed for the scene after talking with French President Emmanuel Macron, who is following the situation closely, according to a security official.
France has been on high alert since a string of Islamic extremist attacks in 2015 and 2016 that killed more than 200 people.

—

The hostage-taking ongoing in the southwestern France town of Trebes seems to be a “terrorist act,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told reporters on Friday.
“The hostage situation is ongoing. The operation is not over,” Philippe said during a visit to Mulhouse. “All the information we have as I speak lead us to think that this would be a terrorist act.”
Philippe also said that one police officer had been injured but that his life was not in danger.
BFM TV has said the hostage-taker claimed allegiance to Islamic State. Philippe did not mention that.

—

The latest from AP:

A suspect has shot dead one person and seriously wounded another inside a supermarket in the southern French town of Trebes, a police union official said.

The suspect earlier fired six shots at police officers who were on their way back from jogging near the city of Carcassonne on Friday morning, according to Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of the SGP Police-FO union.

One police officer was injured in the shoulder but is not in a life-threatening condition, Mr Lefebvre said.

The police officers, based in the southern city of Marseille, were on a temporary mission in Carcassonne, he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked interior minister Gerard Collomb to go to the site of the incident.

Anti-terror prosecutors have taken over the investigation

—-

The incident is a terror attack, confirms the French prime minister Edouard Philippe

—-

The situation is not stabilised at the scene of the siege, a representative of the police tells local reporters. About 20 people were able to leave the supermarket as the siege started, according to local reports.

—-

The GIGN – the elite, armed police – have arrived at the scene with helicopters.

—-

12:35 p.m.
A police union official says a suspect has shot dead one person and seriously wounded another inside a supermarket in the southern French town of Trebes.
Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of the SGP Police-FO union, says the suspect earlier fired six shots at police officers who were on their way back from jogging near the city of Carcassonne Friday morning. One police officer was injured in the shoulder but is not in life-threatening condition, Lefebvre said
The police officers, based in the southern city of Marseille, were on a temporary mission in Carcassonne, he said.
___
12:20 p.m.
French counterterrorism prosecutors are taking charge of the investigation into the shooting of a police officer in southern France that has led to an apparent hostage-taking at a supermarket.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said counterterrorism investigators are taking over the probe into the ongoing incident Friday in the town of Trebes, but did not provide details on why.
There are unconfirmed media reports that the assailant claimed connections to the Islamic State group.
Interior Minister spokesman Frederic Delanouvelle told The Associated Press that there is one suspect and police are trying to subdue him. He provided no details of how many people were inside the supermarket or were believed held hostage.
___
12:05 p.m.
French authorities say a police operation is taking place in a small town in southern France after a police officer was shot and wounded.
A suspect has been surrounded at a supermarket in the town of Trebes, south of Toulouse, and might have taken hostages, national police said.
The French Interior Ministry said on its Twitter account Friday that police and rescue operations are the priority.
Authorities in the Aude region are warning people to avoid the area around the supermarket.

French President Emmanuel Macron asks interior minister to head to site of police shooting, hostage-taking

PARIS, March 23 (Reuters) – There are two victims in a hostage taking at a supermarket in Trebes southern France, the mayor of the town said on Friday as La Depeche du midi newspaper reported one person was dead.
The condition of the two victims was not immediately known.
Mayor Eric Ménassi told BFM TV that the hostage taker was now alone with one police officer in the supermarket and all other hostages had been freed.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe described the situation, which investigators are treating as terrorism, as “very serious” and Interior Minister Gerard Collomb is heading to the site, his ministry said.

This news has been read 4498 times!

23/03/2018