UPDATE - France: Suspect killed in terror hostage standoff

UPDATES WITH INTERIOR MINISTER’S COMMENTS, DETAILS ON ATTACK AND SUSPECT

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - Following a deadly hostage standoff at a supermarket, a gunman in southern France was killed by security forces, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on Friday.

"The hostage-taker was shot," Collomb told a press conference in the town of Trebes, in the Aude department, at the scene of the hours-long standoff.

Collomb said the gunman, identified as Redouane Lakdim, had killed three people before being taken down. The 26-year-old, from the nearby town of Carcassonne, was known to authorities for petty crimes but there were no signs of radicalization.

He acted alone, Collomb said.

Earlier, the Aude prosecutor said Lakdim claimed to be a “soldier of Daesh,” according to radio station Franceinfo, and after the attack, a website related to the terrorist group claimed responsibility.

Broadcaster BFMTV also said earlier that the attacker had demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks awaiting trial.

Collomb said investigators think Lakdim hijacked a car after leaving Carcassonne and killed one of the people in the hijacked vehicle.

Then Lakdim shot at four police officers jogging in the same town, injuring at least one. He later entered the Super U supermarket around 11 a.m. local time (1046GMT), where he killed two more people.

- Gendarme's 'heroism'

Collomb also praised the "heroism" of a gendarme, one of the first officers to intervene at the scene of the attack. The 45-year-old lieutenant colonel voluntarily offered to exchange himself for a hostage.

He left his phone line open, allowing the forces outside to follow what was happening inside and intervene.

The gendarme was "seriously injured," according to Collomb.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Premier Edouard Philippe said earlier that the incident bears all the signs of a terrorist attack.

Paris anti-terrorist prosecutors have launched a probe.

This is the first suspected terrorist incident since Macron lifted a two-year state of emergency last autumn and toughened anti-terror laws.