Anti-Mafia French deputy shot dead

(First Edition)

Paris - A French parliamentarian, a god-daughter of Jean-Marie le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, has been shot dead near her home in Hyeres, southern France, writes Julian Nundy.

Yann Piat, 44, a National Assembly deputy for the centre-right Union for French Democracy, who was expelled from the National Front in 1988, was killed on Friday evening. Police said a motorcycle drew up beside her chauffeur-driven car and the pillion passenger shot and wounded her driver, then killed Mrs Piat with two shots.

In the absence of a clear motive, there is speculation that the killing may have been the result of a campaign Mrs Piat was leading against the Mafia and drug-dealing in her Ver region, or revenge by extreme rightists for her split with the National Front.