French Jews pay condolences to victims of terror attack

Umbrella group for French Jewry says assault Friday in which 3 were killed ‘reawakens in us the fear and pain’ of 2015 shooting at Kosher supermarket

By Agencies 23 March 2018, 7:39 pm

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French National Gendarmerie Intervention Group troops and gendarmes gather outside the Super U supermarket in the town of Trebes, southwestern France, where a terrorist took hostages before he was killed by security forces on March 23, 2018. (AFP Photo/Eric Cabanis)

Leaders of French Jewry paid their condolences to the victims of a suspected Islamic State terrorist who took hostages at a supermarket in southern France, killing at least three and injuring 10 people.

A statement Friday by CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, said the incident in the town of Trebes “reawakens in us the fear and pain that we felt on Jan. 9, 2015,” when an Islamist holed up with automatic weapons inside the HyperCacher supermarket in Paris killed four Jews before police broke in and shot him to death.

At least three people were killed in Friday’s shooting spree and hostage siege in southern France, after a terrorist carried out three separate attacks in the medieval town of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State terror group.

A policeman stands guard, on January 21, 2015, in front the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket where jihadist gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed four Jewish men on January 9, 2015 in Paris. (AFP/Eric Feferberg)

The assailant was known to police but was not considered a terror threat, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.

Collomb named the attacker, who was killed by police, as 26-year-old Redouane Lakdim and described him as a small-time drug dealer.

“He was already under surveillance when he suddenly decided to act,” he said.

Security sources had said the terrorist was believed to be a Moroccan who was on a watch list of suspected Islamic extremists, but Collomb did not confirm his nationality.

Ladkim demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, who is standing trial in Belgium for his alleged role in terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, Le Monde reported.

Tzipi Hotovely‏, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, said in a statement that Israel conveyed “thoughts and prayers with the hostages and their families.” Israel and France, she said, “share values of freedom and liberty and are cooperating in the global fight against terror.”

The attack was condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin.