‘Allah Akbar’ Attacker: Two Dead, Dozen Wounded in Carcassonne Attacks
The hostage-taking gunman responsible for at least two deaths in Carcassonne, France Friday has demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the sole remaining killer of the 2015 Paris attacks from Prison.
Friday’s attacker, who is reported by the Agence France-Presse to be a male of Moroccan origin and who attacked police and a supermarket with weapons including a handgun made the demand for France to release its most closely guarded prisoner, the terrorist Salah Abdeslam Friday afternoon.
Described as ‘public enemy number one’ by French newspaper Le Figaro, Abdeslam was a delinquent-turned terrorist cell member who was part of the November 2015 carnage that killed 130 in locations across the city including the Bataclan theatre.
The hostages taken by the unidentified killer in Carcassonne, France have now been released with reports stating the final hostage was exchanged in return for a 45-year-old lieutenant colonel of the French Army.
Reports Friday morning from local officials and media said a group of police officers in civilian clothes on their morning run had been attacked by a man in a car, who may have attempted to run the group down and fired a number of shots from the vehicle before driving away.
In a second incident believed to be related to the first, police entered into a standoff with an attacker at a supermarket approximately fifteen minutes away from the site of the first. Specialist counter-terror have assumed responsibility for the investigation.
The French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has confirmed the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.
Two have been killed in the attack and a dozen more injured, reports Le Figaro, which quotes a witness at the scene who said the ‘Allah Akbar’ shouting assailant was seen in the supermarket carrying knives, a handgun, and grenades.
⚠️ Intervention de police en cours à #Trèbes dans l'#Aude. La priorité est à l'intervention des forces de police et de secours. Plus d'informations à venir sur ce compte, ne diffusez pas de rumeurs ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/M2t4mLccG0
— Ministère de l'Intérieur (@Place_Beauvau) March 23, 2018
The French Interior Ministry confirmed the ongoing incident in Trebes, Carcassonne, in a Tweet which urged the importance of the ongoing police operation and which pleaded with members of the public to not “spread rumours” about the nature of the attack. The interior minister, who was visiting a police academy when the attack took place, said on Twitter he was immediately travelling to the scene.
