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Shooting, hostage-taking at South France supermarket, attacker claims allegiance to IS

Kashmir Times. Dated: 3/24/2018 12:11:42 AM

PARIS, Mar 23 (Agencies): At least two people have died and many are feared trapped after a man fired shots and took hostages at a supermarket in two separate incidents in the same area of southwest France on Friday.
The unidentified man holding hostages in the supermarket has claimed allegiance to the Islamic State, BFM TV quoted French authorities as saying. The Europe 1 radio also confirmed that an individual was holding hostages in the supermarket.
According to AFP, a policeman was shot at in the town of Carcassonne while the gunman fired shots and took several people hostage in the morning hours at a supermarket in the town of Trebes. The man "entered the Super U supermarket at around 11.15 am and fired shots," a source said of the Trebes incident.
The local authorities tweeted that the area was out-of-bounds to the public.
French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has said that initial reports suggest it is a terrorist act. Meanwhile, security officials have been carrying out an operation the supermarket to rescue the hostages and neutralise the gunman.