Shooting, hostage-taking in south France: security source

A policeman was shot and a man took hostages at a supermarket in two separate incidents in the same area of southwest France today, security sources told AFP.

The policeman was shot in the town of Carcassonne, while a gunman fired shots during a hostage-taking this morning at a supermarket in the town of Trebes 15 minutes' drive away.

The man "entered the Super U supermarket at around 11.15 am and shots were heard," a source said of the Trebes incident. Local authorities tweeted that the area was out-of-bounds to the public.