Hero French cop dies after Jihadist shooting spree

TREBES, France: A French policeman who offered himself as a hostage to help end what President Emmanuel Macron branded "terrorist attack" died of his wounds on Saturday, becoming the fourth victim of the shooting spree and supermarket siege.

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

Beltrame offered to take the place of a woman who was being held as the attacker’s final hostage, according to Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.

Gunman Radouane Lakdim, 25, shot and stabbed the policeman before anti-terror officers moved in to kill the attacker and end the siege.

Macron led a flood of tributes to Beltrame, saying he had "died a hero" and deserved "the respect and admiration of the whole nation".

Lakdim killed a total of four people in Trebes and the nearby medieval town of Carcassonne, in France’s first major Jihadist attack since October.

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.