Trèbes terror attack: Investigation launched into gunman Redouane Lakdim after three killed in hostage siege - as it happened

Officials name 26-year-old who shot at police and held shoppers at gunpoint

Video shows scene outside Trebes siege as police surround area where gunman held hostages

A terror attacker has been shot dead by police after he took hostages and fired at officers in the south of France.

Police raided the Super U shop in Trèbes early this afternoon and killed Redouane Lakdim, 26, who is said to have killed three people near Toulouse and claimed affiliation with Isis.

Officials believe he hijacked a car in Carcassonne at around 10am and killed one of the passengers.

He is then thought to have fired on a group of policemen who were jogging, wounding one in the shoulder, before driving to a supermarket three miles from Carcassonne and holding around 50 customers hostage.

He killed two of them and injured 16 more before police stormed the shop and shot him dead.

Interior minister Gérard Collomb said Lakdim then shot at a group of police officers before hiding inside the supermarket, where two more people were killed.

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Key Points

• Macron says 16 people are injured
• Isis claim responsibility
• Attacker known to authorities
• Three people apart from gunman dead
• Lone police officer who stayed in supermarket seriously wounded

[23 March 2018 17:21 · Harriet Agerholm]

It has emerged that more than 240 people have been killed in France in attacks since 2015 by assailants who pledged allegiance to Isis or were inspired by the group.

[23 March 2018 17:23 · Harriet Agerholm]

French President Emmanuel Macron has said 16 people were injured in the attack, two seriously.

The police officer who swapped himself for a civilian hostage is fighting for his life after being shot, he added.

[23 March 2018 17:54 · Harriet Agerholm]

Shoppers speak about experience

A customer in the supermarket has described the assailant as a "very agitated man" who shouted Allahu Akbar [God is great] several times. 

Christian Guibbert told reporters: "We heard an explosion, well, several explosions. So I went to see what was happening and I saw a man lying on the floor and another person, very agitated, who had a gun in one hand and a knife in the other one." 

He said he sought shelter with his wife, sister-in-law and other customers into the butchery's refrigerator. Then he went back into the supermarket's main room and walked toward the assailant, calling police and describing the situation. He said the suspect then "ran after me". 

Mr Guibbert escaped out an emergency market door as  police forces arrived to storm the building. 

[23 March 2018 17:57 · Harriet Agerholm]

Investigation opens

French President Emmanuel Macron has said investigators are trying to establish how the suspect obtained the gun used in the attack in Trebes and nearby city of Carcassonne, where officials say the 26-year-old hijacked a car and claimed his first victim. 

He added detectives will also try to find out how and when Redouane Lakdim got radicalised.

Speaking after a meeting at the emergency center at the interior ministry, Mr Macron praised the courage of the police officer who offered himself in a hostage swap and was seriously injured.  The president said: "He saved lives".

AP 

[23 March 2018 19:06 · Harriet Agerholm]

One person has been arrested in connection to the shooting, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins has said

[23 March 2018 19:46 · Kristin Hugo]

The suspect was born in Morocco and was arrested in Southern France.

[23 March 2018 21:51 · Kristin Hugo]

[23 March 2018 21:57 · Kristin Hugo]

That is all from The Independent. Thank you for following our coverage.