Live updates: three dead after gun attacks in France
So-called Islamic State says it was behind deadly gun attacks in southwestern France on Friday in which a man shouting "Allahu Akbar" stormed into a supermarket and took hostages.
The lone gunman was shot dead when security forces raided the store in the small town of Tr`ebes after a siege.
By that time, however, he had killed a total of three people, and injured 16 others, including a gendarme who is fighting for his life in hospital.
The officer has been hailed a hero after volunteering to exchange places with a hostage in the store.
"The lieutenant colonel, who was with his men, voluntarily swapped himself with a hostage being held by the terrorist," Interior Minister G'erard Collomb told reporters after travelling to the scene.
"And so he stayed with him. The terrorist opened fire. The tactical unit intervened. And shot down the terrorist".
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Named as 26-year-old local man Redouane Lakdim, the authorities said the gunman was known as a petty criminal.
"We had kept an eye on him and we didn't think there was any radicalisation," Collomb explained.
"He took action suddenly, when he was already under surveillance."
Lakdim is said to have demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam - the prime surviving suspect in the ISIL attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015.
Before seizing hostages, Lakdim had already shot one person dead and injured another while stealing a car on Friday in the nearby town of Carcassonne, which is one of France's top tourist attractions.
He then shot at four police officers who were jogging, injuring one of them, before taking hostages at the supermarket in Tr`ebes, about 8 km to the east, where two people died.
"Every day we detect facts and foil new attacks. Alas, this one struck without us being able to counter it," Collomb said.
More than 240 people have been killed in France in attacks since 2015 by assailants who pledged allegiance to so-called Islamic State or were inspired by the group.
The last deadly attack in France was in October 2017 when a Tunisian-born man stabbed two young women to death in Marseille before he was shot dead by soldiers. ISIL also claimed responsibility for that attack.