Two people have been killed in a terrorist attack in southern France, Friday. A gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group fired shots and took hostages at a supermarket.

A police operation is underway near the historic town of Carcassonne in southern France as hostages are being held in the supermarket. A policeman was also shot and wounded near the town.

There have been conflicting reports of casualties from the supermarket attack. Several French newspapers cited Trebes mayor Eric Menassi who initially said that the shooting had claimed at least one life. However, the mayor later altered his statement, saying that two people had been injured in the supermarket shooting. That information was later retracted by the media, and AFP reported that at least 2 people had died following the hostage-taking. RT has not been able to verify any of these reports.

Specialist French SWAT police were on the scene at the supermarket and had surrounded the building.

“One witness named Karim, 55, told France info radio: “I heard shots fired around 11:10am. At that moment there were only a few gendarmes (military police) around but now there are between 200 to 300.

“The whole area is in lockdown and we are going to be moved away by the gendarmes.

source: thelocal.fr