Shooting, hostage-taking at French supermarket; gunman claims allegiance to Islamic State
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Two incidents of shooting were reported in southern France on Friday.
A gunman shot at one or two people in the first incident of hostage-taking at a supermarket in the town of Trebes. He claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, the local prosecutor's office said, adding that they were treating the hostage-taking as a terror incident.
The man "entered the Super U supermarket at around 11.15 am and shots were heard," a source told AFP.
A policeman has been hurt in the second incident of shooting in the town of Carcassonne, 15 minutes' drive away by car from Trebes, the security source said.
The same car has been linked to the hostage-taking and the police shooting, a security source told AFP.
Local authorities tweeted that the area was off-limits to the public.
France is still on high alert after a wave of jihadist attacks since 2015, starting in January that year with the assault on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead.
The country also suffered major attacks in Paris in November 2015 when IS jihadists killed 130 people at bars, restaurants, the Bataclan concert venue and the national stadium.
In July 2016, in another attack claimed by IS, a man drove a truck through revellers celebrating Bastille Day, killing 84 people.
A state of emergency put in place just after the Paris attacks was finally lifted in October last year, but soldiers continue to patrol major tourist sites and transport hubs under an anti-terror mission.
(With inputs from AFP)