The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack over the weekend, in the southern part of France. Four people were murdered in the terror attack – including one officer and three civilians. The terror attack started when an Islamist terrorist hijacked a car near the city of Carcassonne, killing one person in the vehicle and wounding another. The Islamist assailant then opened fire toward a group of off-duty police officers, injuring one. The attacker then fled to the city of Tebes, where he stormed a supermarket, killing two people and taking an unknown number of hostages. As French special police forces arrived at the scene, one officer offered himself up to the terrorist, in exchange for a female hostage. Nevertheless, when shots were fired, a decision was made to storm the building. All-together, the terrorist killed four and wounded fifteen others, before the special police force shot and killed the Islamist terrorist.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said investigators will focus on establishing how the gunman, identified by prosecutors as Moroccan-born Redouane Lakdim, got his weapon and how he became radicalized by the Islamic State. He said, “The terrorist has been identified. He has been killed during the raid and the investigation should put forward answers to several important questions. When and how did he get radicalized? Where did he obtain his weapons? All the necessary ways of obtaining the answers would be employed. This attack has been reclaimed by Daesh (ISIS), a claim that we are currently analyzing,” the French President asserted in a Paris press conference.
More than 240 people have been killed in France in attacks since 2015 by Islamist terrorists who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State or were inspired by the extreme Muslim group.