Islamic State claims deadly French supermarket siege

Police at the scene of a hostage situation in a supermarket in Trebes, Aude, France on Mar 23, 2018 in this picture obtained from a social media video. (Photo source: La Vie a Trebes via Reuters)

Five people were also shot and wounded in France's first major militant attack since October, including a heroic policeman who offered to take the place of hostages being held at the supermarket.

"Our country has suffered an Islamist terrorist attack," President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address following the rampage in the medieval town of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes.

The Islamic State militant group claimed the attack was in response to its call to target Western enemies - as is customary when the assailant has pledged allegiance to the militants.

The shootings come as France remains on high alert following a string of deadly attacks that have killed more than 240 people since 2015.

Top anti-terror prosecutor Francois Molins named the gunman as Radouane Lakdim, a 25-year-old who had convictions for carrying a banned weapon and for drug use.

"He had been on a watchlist for his radicalisation and links to the Salafist movement," Molins told reporters in Carcassonne, adding that Lakdim had been tracked for his online contacts with extremists.

Security sources said Lakdim was born in Taza in northern Morocco and held French nationality. His partner, who lived with him in Carcassonne, has been detained, Molins said.

Lakdim started his rampage in Carcassonne at around 10.30am (0930 GMT), hijacking a car and shooting the two people inside, Molins said. The passenger was killed, and the driver remains in a critical condition.

Lakdim then shot and wounded a police officer who was out jogging with colleagues before driving to the Super U supermarket in nearby Trebes.

"The attacker entered the store shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and saying he was a soldier of the Islamic State, ready to die for Syria," Molins said.

He further demanded "the release of his brothers" from prison before shooting a supermarket customer and an employee dead.

"I was five metres away from him," the store's security guard said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"He shot at me twice." Luckily for the security guard, "he shot badly."

HERO POLICEMAN WOUNDED

About 50 people were in the supermarket at the time, and though some people managed to escape, several remained inside.

Senior officer Arnaud Beltrame, 45, offered to take their place while his colleagues negotiated with Lakdim, Molins said.

When the special forces officers heard shots they stormed the store, killing the gunman and recovering Beltrame, who had been "seriously wounded".

Macron led tributes to the police officer, who has been hailed as a hero.

"He saved lives and honoured his colleagues and his country," Macron said.

"He is currently fighting for his life and all our thoughts go out to him and his family," he added.

A Portuguese national was among those killed, the government in Lisbon confirmed.

TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR GOVERNMENT

Trebes, a tranquil town of 5,000 people along the famed Canal du Midi, was on lockdown throughout Friday as helicopters swirled overhead and heavily armed and masked police carried out a massive operation in Lakdim's neighbourhood.

The fact that Lakdim had been monitored as a potential extremist will raise difficult questions for Macron's government as to how he slipped through the net.

"We had monitored him and did not think he had been radicalised," Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said of Lakdim after flying to the scene.

"He was already under surveillance when he suddenly decided to act."

Friday's violence took place in a part of France still scarred by a killing spree in 2012 in the city of Toulouse and nearby Montauban where another militant, Mohamed Merah, shot dead seven people including three Jewish schoolchildren.

That assault marked the first of several big Islamist attacks in France since 2015, including the gun massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 in Paris, and a summer 2016 truck attack during Bastille Day festivities in Nice.

The most recent assault came in October when a Tunisian man stabbed to death two women at Marseille's railway station, shouting "Allahu Akbar".

A state of emergency put in place just after the 2015 Paris attacks was lifted last October when Macron's centrist government passed a new law boosting the powers of security forces.

Soldiers continue to patrol major tourist sites around France and transport hubs under an anti-terror mission.

"We are in a small and calm town, but sadly the threat is everywhere," Collomb said.