A FRENCH policeman who was shot and stabbed after swapping himself for a hostage in a rampage and siege President Emmanuel Macron branded “an Islamist terrorist attack” has died of his wounds, becoming the gunman’s fourth victim.

Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 45, was among a group of officers who rushed to the scene in the town of Trebes in southwest France yesterday after the attacker, who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, stormed a supermarket and fired at shoppers and staff.

Beltrane offered to take the place of a woman the gunman had taken hostage and was shot and badly wounded before anti-terror police moved in to kill the attacker and end the siege.

“Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame has passed away. He died for his country. France will never forget his heroism,” Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said on his Twitter account.

Macron earlier paid tribute to the bravery of the police officer.

“He saved lives and honoured his colleagues and his country,” Macron said.

With the death of the officer, the assailant, identified as 25-year-old Radouane Lakdim, killed a total of four people in France’s first major jihadist attack since October.

“Our country has suffered an Islamist terrorist attack,” Macron said in a televised address following the rampage in the medieval town of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack was in response to its call to target Western enemies – as is customary when the assailant has pledged allegiance to the jihadists.

The shootings come as France remains on high alert following a string of deadly attacks that have killed more than 240 people since 2015.

Top anti-terror prosecutor Francois Molins said the gunman had convictions for carrying a banned weapon and for drug use.

“He had been on a watchlist for his radicalisation and links to the Salafist movement,” Molins told reporters in Carcassonne, adding that Lakdim had been tracked for his online contacts with extremists.

Security sources said Lakdim was born in Taza in northern Morocco and held French nationality. His partner, who lived with him in Carcassonne, has been detained, Molins said. – AFP, March 24, 2018.