French supermarket attacker's teen friend held as toll rises to 4

PARIS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- French police overnight arrested a second person over Friday's attacks by a gunman, which led to the death of four people in southwestern France, state-run France Info radio reported Saturday.

The report said the young man, born in 2000 and a friend of the gunman, Redouane Lakdim, was placed in custody.

Lakdim began his rampage by hijacking a car in the southern French town of Carcassone Friday morning. He shot one passenger dead and injured the driver.

In Carcassone, he also fired at jogging police officers, injuring one, before driving to nearby Trebes. He stormed a supermarket there, telling the 50-odd people inside that he was "a soldier of the Islamic State" and was seeking "to liberate brothers".

The death toll climbed to four after a police officer who voluntarily took the place of a hostage during the supermarket siege died Saturday. Lakdim was also killed.

The 25-year-old attacker was initially believed to have acted alone.

On Friday, an 18-year-old woman was taken into custody for criminal association.

Lakdim was known to police for robbery and drug trafficking. He had been on the terror watch list since 2014 for links to the Salafist movements but had not showed any signs suggesting he would plan a terror attack, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack. French security services are checking the claim's authenticity. Enditem