Skip to main content

Gunman takes hostage in supermarket in France, kills at least 3 before he's shot dead by police

At least three people were killed and two injured today after a terrorist took hostages in a supermarket near Carcassonne in southern France. The gunman who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group was eventually killed by police, ending the hostage situation. 

He is believed to be a Moroccan who was on a watchlist of suspected Islamic extremists after he carried out three separate attacks in the medieval town of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes.

The attacker had began his rampage by hijacking a car in Carcassonne on Friday morning, in which he killed a passenger and injured the driver. He then shot at a group of policeman, injuring one officer before driving to the supermarket, where he opened fire leaving two dead.

He had pledged allegiance to terror group Isis, whose propaganda agency then claimed the attack saying gunman was a "soldier of Islamic State".

Gunman takes hostage in supermarket in France, kills at least 3 before he

A witness reported that the assailant was armed with knives, a gun and grenades and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) before going into the supermarket.
"A man shouted and started firing several times," one shopper at the supermarket told FranceInfo radio station.
She added: "I saw an open door for a refrigerated area and I told people to come to shelter there. We were 10 people and we got out by the emergency exit at the back."
Gunman takes hostage in supermarket in France, kills at least 3 before he
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the incident seemed to be an "act of terrorism". 
"All the information we have at the moment leads us to believe that this was an act of terrorism," he told reporters.
First, the 26-year-old attacker held up a car just before 10 o'clock this morning in the nearby village of Carcassonne, killing one person and leaving another wounded, according to local media reports. Then, he fired at police officers who were on their way back from jogging , according to Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of SGP Police-FO police union. One soldier was slightly injured after being shot in the shoulder, Lefebvre said.
Then the gunman drove that car to a Super U supermarket in the nearby small town of Trebes, about 100km southeast of Toulouse, where he entered the supermarket. He shot two people dead after he entered the supermarket. 
The attacker was able to take a police officer hostage after all other people were able to escape the shop. The police officer swapped himself with a civilian, and was subsequently severly injured in the assault, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said in a statement.
The man claimed that he carried out the attack in the name of ISIL. According to several sources, the hostage taker demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the November 2015 attacks in Paris, in which 130 civilians and seven attackers were killed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Presidential Task Force warns against hasty reopening of schools

  Boss The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Nigeria has warned states against rushing to reopen schools saying such action have escalated COVID-19 management situation in some other countries.   Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, speaking on Monday August 31 in Abuja said it would be in the best interest of Nigeria to stick to it's slow phased easing of lockdown rules because it was effective.  “It is in the above context that the PTF appreciates the on-going calls for re-opening of the education sector and indeed some sub-nationals are already making preparations for such.' Boss Mustapha said. “Whilst the PTF does not discourage making such preparations, we need to be guided by experiences from countries such as Germany, France, the United States and the UK where opening of schools in some cities led to an increase in confirmed cases and fatalities.”   He also said more sectors of the eco...
Post a Comment
Read more

Photos of the 22-year-old woman mauled to death by a lion in South Africa

-year-old Megan van der Zwan was mauled to death by a lioness in a game reserve near Hammanskraal, South Africa on February, 27. The former student at the University of Pretoria, had accompanied her friend to conduct an interview for an assignment at the Kevin Richardson’s Wildlife Sanctuary, located at the Welgedacht Private Game Reserve outside Pretoria. Police spokesperson Constable Connie Mohanedi said the lioness attacked the pair as they were approaching their car to leave. Mohanedi said an inquest docket was opened, but would not give much information “as the investigation is at a “sensitive stage”. According to reports Megan and her friend were visiting the game reserve belonging to "lion whisperer" Kevin Richardson. They wanted to interview the camp manager. Kevin says they were taking pictures outside the camp when the attack occurred. He says he and one of his experienced colleagues were talking the lions one of their regular weekly walks throu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Scores escape death as truck rams into vehicles in Abuja

Many people escaped death on Tuesday, September 8, in Kubwa, Abuja, when a tipper truck rammed into several vehicles.    The crash which occurred at Central market in Kubwa, at about 11 am, left many vehicles damaged. According to one of the survivors, Ngozichukwu, the truck suffered brake failure. and rammed into the vehicles with occupants.   "This tipper failed break and was hitting many cars..... I thought more than 20persons have lost their lives already, people were crying shouting JESUS JESUS  but God was just too much, too kind, too merciful because there was no serious injury and no life was lost.," she narrated.   I don't know how i survived, i thought i was dead i don't know how i survive was all those involved could say( it was indeed a miracle)    It happend exactly infront of central market but God wagged it with diffrent cars and building in order to save lives.Thank You Jesus"     
Post a Comment
Read more