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Outline: Going to rewrite this, more or less, with mostly French sources, because I got too lost in the material to keep things straight. English sources are mostly useless but will still be consulted.

On 23 March 2018, there was a series of Islamist terrorist attacks in the towns of Carcassonne and Trèbes in southern France. Redouane Lakdim, a 25-year-old French Moroccan (born 11 April 1992 in Taza, Morocco), shot the two occupants of a car in Carcassonne, killing the passenger and hijacking it. He then opened fire on four police officers, seriously wounding one. Lakdim drove to nearby Trèbes, where he stormed a Super U supermarket, killing two civilians, wounding others, and taking at least one hostage. He swore allegiance to the Islamic State and demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect of the November 2015 Paris attacks.

A senior gendarmerie officer, Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, voluntarily swapped places with a hostage. After a three-hour stand-off, Lakdim shot and fatally stabbed Beltrame. A police tactical unit immediately stormed the building and killed Lakdim. He was named a "soldier of the Islamic State" by the Amaq News Agency, and the President of France called the attacks an act of Islamist terrorism. Five people were killed in the attacks, including the perpetrator, and fifteen were wounded.

Background

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Beginning in 2015, Europe was rocked by a series of terrorist attacks inspired by Islamic extremism, particularly by the Islamic State (ISIS).[1] France in particular was affected by a series of attacks in January and in November, which killed 157 people in aggregate.[2][3] By 2018, France was the European nation most affected by terrorist attacks inspired or directed by ISIS[4]—from January 2015 to December 2018, 249 people were killed in France by Islamic terrorist attacks[5]—and its security apparatuses were surveilling about 20,000 potential terrorists.[6] Islamic terrorist attacks in France by 2018 mostly targeted law enforcement, rather than focusing on causing the maximum number of civilian casualties; nine out of 11 attacks in France in 2017 were directed against French law enforcement.[4]

Redouane Lakdim

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Redouane Lakdim was born in Morocco on 11 April 1992 and became a naturalized citizen of France in 2004 when his father attained French citizenship.[7][8] By 2018, Lakdim lived in Ozanam, a low-income neighborhood of the French city of Carcassonne,[6] with his parents and sisters.[9] Neighbors interviewed after the Carcassonne and Trèbes attack described him as a "pleasant young man".[10][11][12] He was buried on 29 March 2018.[13]

Lakdim was known to the police prior to the attacks and had been investigated as a possible extremist.[14] In 2011, he was given a suspended sentence of a month in prison for possession of illegal weaponry and was imprisoned for August 2016 following a conviction, in 2015, for possession and use of narcotics and a refusal to comply with a court order.[8] Lakdim, a devout Muslim,[9] was noted by French authorities as a potential security hazard (Fiche S),[15] then monitored in 2016 and 2017 on the suspicion that he had been radicalized.[16][17] A search of his home after his death found notes referring to ISIS in what appeared to be a will.[18] Lakdim's girlfriend was also known to French security services.[19]

Attacks and hostage crisis

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At 10:13 a.m., after taking a sister to school, Lakdim approached a parked Opel Corsa and shot its two occupants with a handgun, killing Jean Mazières, a retired winemaker,[20][21] and critically injuring Renato Silva, a Portuguese citizen.[22] Lakdim stole the vehicle and drove to the barracks of the 3rd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment. When no soldiers exited the barracks, he drove away and spotted four policemen of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité jogging back to their barracks.[20][23] From the vehicle, Lakdim fired six times at the officers,[23] severely injuring one. After attempting without success to hit the officers with the vehicle, Lakdim drove five kilometres (3 mi) to Trèbes.[10]

Lakdim arrived at Trèbes's Super U supermarket at 10:38 a.m.,[24] and entered the store, which at that moment contained 50 people. Lakdim shouted "Allahu akbar" and his allegiance to ISIS,[25][26] and shot and killed the store's butcher, Christian Medves,[27] and Hervé Sosna, a retired mason.[21] Hearing the gunshots, 20 occupants of the store escaped or hid in its cold store;[28][29] those unable to escape were ordered by Lakdim to lie on the ground.[11] After throwing a homemade grenade within the store that did not explode, Lakdim entered a back room and ordered a cashier hiding there to call the French police and inform them that he had taken hostages. The French counter-terrorist police force GIGN was notified at 10:58 a.m. and dispatched a force of 24 officers from Vélizy-Villacoublay Air Base, southwest of Paris, at 12:00 am.[24]

At 11:21 a.m., a group of National Gendarmerie led by Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, the highest ranking police officer then on the scene, entered the Super U. Beltrame, against the advice of the other gendarmes, convinced Lakdim to release the cashier in exchange for himself.[24][30][31] While Lakdim exchanged the cashier for Beltrame, the rest of the hostages in the Super U were evacuated by the police.[24][30]

GIGN arrives 12:10 p.m.[24]

A GIGN unit assembled near the supermarket and Interior Minister Gérard Collomb arrived. Lakdim demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, a primary suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks.[10][12] During the standoff, he briefly came out of the supermarket, threatening to "blow everything up".[9] Police brought Lakdim's mother and two sisters to negotiate, unsuccessfully.[32]

Police negotiated with Lakdim to release the hostages, and Arnaud Beltrame, a 44-year-old lieutenant colonel in the National Gendarmerie,[33][34] offered to take the place of the final, female hostage, and Lakdim agreed. Beltrame set his mobile phone on a table inside with the phone line open, so the police outside could listen in. After a three-hour stand-off, Beltrame tried to disarm Lakdim and shouted "Assault! Assault!" loud enough to be heard through the phone. As a result, Beltrame was shot three or four times and fatally stabbed,[35][36] while GIGN operatives immediately stormed the supermarket at 2:40 p.m. and exchanged gunfire with the assailant, killing him two minutes later. Two of the operatives were wounded. Shortly after, police dogs went into the building, and an ambulance and helicopter arrived in the car park. Beltrame was praised by Interior Minister Collomb and others for his heroism,[10][11][32][37] but later died in hospital of his injuries.[38] Autopsies found that Beltrame died from stab wounds to the throat.[39]

Aftermath

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The attacks and hostage crisis resulted in five deaths, including Lakdim's,[40] and injured 15 people.[32]

Silva survived being shot in the head and was taken to Perpignan where he went into a coma. On 4 April, he came out of the coma but could not walk unassisted and suffered partial paralysis in the face and deafness in one ear. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited Silva in hospital. He was released on 23 March and returned to his home in Villemoustaussou, Aude.[22] He had initially been declared dead by the Portuguese consul.[21]

Lakdim's girlfriend and an unspecified "friend" arrested for questioning at 7 p.m., 23 March.[7]

On 19 October 2018, three persons were indicted by French authorities in connection to Lakdim's actions.[41]

Reactions

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French Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb, who was briefed on the situation in Trèbes from Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d'Or,[32] said he was "on his way to Trèbes" and arrived shortly after.[40] President Emmanuel Macron said the hostage taking "appeared to be a terrorist act" and that he would return to Paris within hours to coordinate an official response.[37]

President Macron later said Arnaud Beltrame "fell as a hero" and showed "exceptional courage", in what he described as an act of "Islamist terrorism".[42]

Beltrame's name was the top trending hashtag on the French edition of Twitter on the morning he died due to tributes from France and elsewhere around the world.[43][44] Gendarmerie stations across France flew flags at half-mast in his honour,[44] and the Élysée Presidential Palace announced that a national tribute would be paid to him.[34]

  United Kingdom: Prime Minister Theresa May denounced the attack as "cowardly," and said the United Kingdom stood "in solidarity with our friends and allies in France, just as they always stand with us."[45]

  Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, sent condolences and said: "The civilized world must unite and work together in order to defeat terrorism".[46][47] President Reuven Rivlin also denounced the attack, saying: "The whole free world must stand united and firm against terror: in Jerusalem, in France, and across the world."[48]

  Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement of condemnation and solidarity against terrorism, and offered condolence on behalf of his citizens to victims' friends and families.[49]

  United States: President Donald Trump issued a statement on Twitter, condemning "the violent actions of the attacker and anyone who would provide him support." He continued, "we are with you @EmmanuelMacron!"[50]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Nesser, Petter (5 December 2018). "Europe hasn't won the war on terror". Politico. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Charlie Hebdo Attacks: Three Days That Shook France". France 24. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  3. ^ "November 2015 attacks: A timeline of the night that shook the French capital". France 24. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b Suc, Matthieu (23 March 2018). "Quatre morts, dont le gendarme Beltrame, dans un attentat dans l'Aude". Mediapart (in French). Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  5. ^ Gatehouse, Jonathon (12 December 2018). "The staggering scale of France's battle against terror, by the numbers". CBC News. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  6. ^ a b Chrisafis, Angelique (23 March 2018). "Radouane Lakdim: profile of the France supermarket gunman". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  7. ^ a b "La compagne de l'auteur de l'attentat de Trèbes était fichée S et suivie pour radicalisation". Le Monde (in French). 24 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Attaques dans l'Aude : le tireur a acquis la nationalité française en 2004, et non en 2015". France Info (in French). 24 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  9. ^ a b c Decorse, Johanna (23 March 2018). "France supermarket attacker pledged to "die for Syria"". Reuters. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d Chrisafis, Angelique; Henley, Jon (23 March 2018). "French supermarket siege: gendarme dies after taking place of hostage". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Boyle, Danny; Mulholland, Rory (23 March 2018). "France siege: Trebes supermarket hostage-taker who killed three is shot dead by police". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  12. ^ a b "France shooting: Police kill supermarket gunman". BBC News. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  13. ^ "Polémique sur l'enterrement de Radouane Lakdim: «Je n'ai aucun pouvoir», dit le maire de Carcassonne". La Dépêche du Midi (in French). 29 March 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  14. ^ Mulholland, Rory (23 March 2018). "Radouane Lakdim: Islamist supermarket shooter was petty criminal known to French police". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Attaques terroristes dans l'Aude : regardez l'intégralité de la conférence de presse du procureur François Molins". France Info (in French). 23 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  16. ^ "Redouane Lakdim". Counter Extremism Project. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Qui est Radouane Lakdim, le suspect des attaques terroristes dans l'Aude". Le Parisien (in French). 24 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  18. ^ La Hamaide, Sybille (25 March 2018). "Friends and family attend mass in honour of French attack victims". Reuters. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  19. ^ "Police 'knew' France attacker's partner". BBC News. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  20. ^ a b "Quatre morts dans le sillage de Lakdim". La Dépêche du Midi (in French). 24 March 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  21. ^ a b c "Les visages des victimes des attaques se dévoilent". L'Alsace-Le Pays (in French). 25 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  22. ^ a b "Attentat de Trèbes : Renato Silva, qui avait reçu une balle dans la tête, est rentré chez lui". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). 27 April 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  23. ^ a b Décugis, Jean-Michel; Pelletier, Eric (24 March 2018). "Attaques terroristes dans l'Aude : le récit de 4 heures de terreur". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  24. ^ a b c d e Le Devin, Willy (22 July 2018). "Attentat de Trèbes: "Plus Beltrame avançait, plus je sentais Lakdim trembler"". Libération (in French). Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  25. ^ "Counterterrorism official: Suspect shouted "Allahu akbar" when he entered supermarket where hostages taken". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 23 March 2018. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018.
  26. ^ Hunter, Brad (23 March 2018). "ISIS killer shouts 'Allahu Akbar, I'll kill you all,' then opens fire". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  27. ^ Tomasovitch, Geoffroy (24 March 2018). "Attaque de Trèbes : Christian, le boucher tué au Super U, était "une figure, un coeur énorme"". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  28. ^ "Attaque terroriste dans l'Aude : ce que l'on sait à 23h15". L'Indépendant (in French). 23 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  29. ^ Cottin, Sylvain (23 March 2018). "Dans le Super U de Trèbes : "Je me suis plaqué par terre à la troisième détonation"". Sud Ouest (in French). Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  30. ^ a b Boutry, Timothée (22 July 2018). "Attentat de Trèbes : le huis clos glaçant entre le colonel Beltrame et le terroriste". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  31. ^ Soulery, Jean-Claude (25 March 2018). "Qui est Julie, l'otage remplacée par le colonel Beltrame?". Midi Libre (in French). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  32. ^ a b c d "DIRECT. Attaques terroristes dans l'Aude : au moins trois morts". Le Parisien (in French). 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  33. ^ Taylor, Adam (24 March 2018). "'He saved lives': Arnaud Beltrame, police officer who traded places with a hostage, to be honored by France". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 March 2018. Correction: An earlier version of this story misreported Beltrame's age. He was 44, not 45.
  34. ^ a b "Attentat dans l'Aude : un hommage national sera rendu au gendarme Arnaud Beltrame (Attack in Aude: a national tribute will be paid to gendarme Arnaud Beltrame)" (in French). Le Monde. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018. L'officier de 44 ans, (The 44-year-old officer)
  35. ^ "INFO M6 - "assault! Assault!", The last words of Arnaud Beltrame". M6Info. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  36. ^ ""Assaut, assaut !" : les derniers mots d'Arnaud Beltrame". Le Progrès. 30 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  37. ^ a b "Hostage-taker in southern France killed by security forces". France24. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  38. ^ "French police 'hero' dies of wounds". BBC News. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  39. ^ "Attentat dans l'Aude : le gendarme Arnaud Beltrame est mort poignardé au cou". Le Parisien. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  40. ^ a b Dewan, Angela; Elwazer, Schams (23 March 2018). "Gunman shot dead in France after killing 3 in supermarket and car attacks". CNN. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  41. ^ "France indicts three over Trèbes supermarket terror attack". France 24. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  42. ^ "Arnaud Beltrame: French police 'hero' dies of wounds". BBC. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018. Lt-Col Arnaud Beltrame ... "fell as a hero" and showed "exceptional courage", French President Emmanuel Macron said. Announcing the police officer's death on Twitter, Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said: "He died for his country. France will never forget his heroism, his bravery, his sacrifice." Sixteen people were injured, two seriously, in what Mr Macron called an act of "Islamist terrorism".
  43. ^ "France mourns death of hero gendarme who took place of supermarket hostage". The Local, French edition. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018. Beltrame's name was the top trend on Twitter on Saturday morning as people in France and around the world lined up to pay tribute to the gendarme
  44. ^ a b Mulholland, Rory (24 March 2018). "France honours 'hero' officer who was killed after swapping himself for hostage". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2018. Flags were flown at half-staff in gendarme stations across France as the country honoured the officer declared a national hero by President Emmanuel Macron after he swapped himself for a hostage and was killed by an Islamist gunman. ... The officer's name was the top trending hashtag on the French edition of Twitter, with members of the public in France and around the world paying tribute to what many of them called a "true hero."
  45. ^ UK Prime Minister [@10DowningStreet] (23 March 2018). "PM: My thoughts are with the victims of the cowardly attacks in Trèbes and Carcassonne. We stand in solidarity with our friends and allies in France, just as they always stand with us" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 March 2018 – via Twitter.
  46. ^ "ISIS-linked Gunman Shot Dead by French Police After Taking Hostages, Killing Three". Haaretz. Associated Press. 23 March 2018.
  47. ^ "Gunman shot dead after three killed in French shooting, supermarket attack". The Jerusalem Post. 23 March 2018.
  48. ^ "Netanyahu, Rivlin condemn 'brutal' French terror attack". The Times of Israel. 23 March 2018.
  49. ^ Justin Trudeau (23 March 2018). "Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the terrorist attack in France". pm.gc.ca. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  50. ^ "The Latest: Trump tweets support for French shooting victims". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 24 March 2018. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
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