'Hero' officer risked life to save hostage

A police officer who was seriously wounded during the supermarket siege in the Aude after trading himself for a hostage has been hailed a hero.

Interior Minister Gérard Collomb saluted the "act of heroism" of the officer - a lieutenant-colonel of the gendarmes - and also revealed that, once inside the Super U store in Trèbes, near Carcassonne, he was able to help fellow officers by keeping the line to his mobile phone open so that they could listen-in to events in the store.

Read more: Supermarket gunman shot dead by police

The gendarme was shot while inside the store, and is one of three police officers to have been injured during the siege. The other two were members of the GIGN unit that entered the building after gunshots were heard.

Mr Collomb, who changed his plans and travelled to the scene after events started unfolding, said that the attacker, a 25-year-old French national of Moroccan descent, had acted alone. He was known to authorities and had been imprisoned for minor offences in 2016, Franceinfo reports.