the france closely. the france hostage situation continuing to unfold. you are watching bbc news, special coverage from here in london on what is going on at a supermarket in trebes in southern france, because an operation is still ongoing. you see on your screen two podiums in brussels where we expect to hear from the french president and the german chancellor. they are at the european union summit for leaders and we are expecting to get a statement from them in the next few minutes. but let's get the latest situation on what is going on in the south of france. andy moore has this report. shots were fired and hostages taken at the supermarket just after 11 o'clock local time. a large police operation was mounted. reports scores of officers and airborne units were sent to the scene. counterterror police

are leading the operation. this shocked woman told a reporter she couldn't see inside the supermarket. she said her children were in a school about 300 metres away. earlier in the day, about 15 minutes away near carcassonne, a group of police officers outjogging were followed and then fired on five times by a man in the car. one officer was injured. that incident has now been linked to the hostagetaking at the supermarket. there are conflicting reports about the fate of the hostages. the french prime minister said it was a very serious situation. that was why he had to leave to monitor the incident. local media say at least two people have been killed. that hasn't been officially confirmed. there are also reports, again unconfirmed, that up to 12 people have been injured. yet another report says all the hostages have been freed apart from one police officer. a little earlier we heard from defence analyst thomas withington who explained how

prepared security forces in france are for this. in terms of the preparation of the french forces and law enforcement services, this is the kind of attack that people have been fearing for quite some time. france has been no stranger to terrorist activity over the last few years, and this profile of hostagetaking in a shooting, reg retta bly, of hostagetaking in a shooting, regrettably, does follow the pattern of previous incidents that we have seen of previous incidents that we have seen around the country, particularly in paris in the wake of the charlie hebdo attacks. so it is not something that the french law enforcement authorities are unfamiliar with, they will have very clearly drafted plans on how to respond to this. any incident within france is reachable by helicopter, by military aircraft, within hours, if not shorter, so the response

times are very, very rapid regarding where things happen in the country... we are just going to interrupt that because angela merkel and emmanuel macron are about to speak in brussels. translation: first of all, please allow me to say a few words about the ongoing developments in france. indeed, an attack and hostagetaking operation are ongoing in our country in the south of france, and everything leads us to believe that indeed it is a terror attack, which is, asi indeed it is a terror attack, which is, as i say, still ongoing. the police and in particular the gendarmerie intervened in a very co—ordinated manner after what was first an attack against police officers. please allow me to express

oui’ officers. please allow me to express our utmost support all of those addressing the situation. at this point in time, i will not provide any figures. the paris public prosecutor will shortly provide the releva nt prosecutor will shortly provide the relevant information and referred the matter to the digi as i as well as the teret investigating magistrates, they are on their way as we speak. please allow me to express the utmost support of the french government and authorities and in particular our support to the police forces that are currently on the ground. i just police forces that are currently on the ground. ijust spoke to the minister of the interior who is arriving on the spot, and the prime minister is back in paris, and i myself will be back there in a couple of hours in order to coordinate all the necessary

measures to be taken. over the past two days, we have attended a european council meeting and i'm very pleased that once again we can host this joint press conference with chancellor merkel given the importance of the work conducted together. once again this was made possible thanks to the work we conducted last week in paris, a couple of days after chancellor merkel was re—elected, and please allow me to once again congratulate her on that. this european council meeting was important because it gave us meeting was important because it gave us an meeting was important because it gave us an opportunity to look at a number of topics which are very much in connection with europe. we have first of all deep discussions regarding international issues and, as you know, a couple of days ago i

visited the headquarters of the opcw and france itself a couple of months ago toq and initiative in the case of... studio: so president emmanuel macron moving on to the business of the summit but as expected he began by commenting on the situation in the south of france. he talked about an ongoing hostage taking operation, he said then of course there had first of all been the attack against the police officer followed by the hostagetaking at the supermarket in nearby trebes, expressing his utmost to support to those involved in trying to bring this situation to an end, saying the paris prosecutable provide more information suits and reflecting on the fact that the minister of the interior is on his way to trebes, arriving on the spot imminently, emmanuel macron saying that he would be going back to paris

shortly to coordinate efforts from there. the bbc, helen is here with us, watching what is going on. he did not speak for very long about what is going on in the south of france? it is interesting to see that he is having to say he is supporting the situation, supporting the french people, saying everything led us to believe again that it is a terrorist attack. i think because he has been in brussels, receiving information, he may be cautious about what to say, and we still don't really know who is this person, where has he come from, so thatis person, where has he come from, so that is always the precaution of the time. i have been looking a bit more into what has been happening with this list that this gentleman a p pa re ntly this list that this gentleman apparently was on, so this is a list that was created, i think naomi mentioned it earlier as well, in

2015, since the paris attack, because we have a state safety list, which is a combination of all the dangerous people that could attack france, but it was a mix of maybe radical list islamist or maybe right wingers, all sorts of different people that could threaten france. whereas this new list that was created in 2015 is called the fsrt list and has 12,000 names, created in 2015 is called the fsrt listand has 12,000 names, and it was on this list that this gentleman had been. iwasjust was on this list that this gentleman had been. i wasjust hearing again about this really tiny little town, trebes, 5000 inhabitants, so this is becoming kind than usual now, how these individuals are attacking very, very small villages. just let me interrupt because we are seeing reports that eight french military

officer swapped himself for a hostage at the supermarket, according to a source close to the investigation, i think this is being reported on the reuters news agency, that a french military officer swapped himself for a hostage at the super u supermarket in trebes. we we re super u supermarket in trebes. we were speculating earlier whether the officer himself was a hostage or had gonein officer himself was a hostage or had gone in as a negotiator but now, apparently, offered to swap himself for one of the hostages? and we can confirm as well, we have three dead at the moment and three wounded, for sure. still to hear officially what they are saying, they are not reporting this yet about this police officer, but i guess if reuters is saying it... it was a source close to the investigation and around the

time we heard the other hostages had been freed and gone that we heard the remaining person was, they had said a police officer but according to this source a member of the military, so that would tally with what we heard earlier. you mentioned the fact that trebes is tiny, 5000 inhabitants, but we saw the state of readiness that france is still in, the number of security forces that we re the number of security forces that were there so soon after the first news broke? and also we just heard that the four schools in trebes, they have maybe two primaries and two hi res they have maybe two primaries and two hires schools, college, we cool them in france, they have been com pletely them in france, they have been completely cordoned, the kids are in confinement, so this is obviously something france has been gearing towards, since the events of 2015. we have massively scaled up our security for any school, you get training, i have a few friends that are teachers who have been telling me about their confinement, really

traumatic training where they have to help the kids get hidden under the tables, make sure that they are talking to the right people, protecting... this is all since 2015? yes, this has been happening in hospitals, schools, companies, so obviously it is not that much of a surprise for me, following this, to see such a big kind of deployment really quickly, and it is also near carcassonne, so obviously trebes is small but still a suburb town where you would have access to bigger pools of police cars. we are just seeing, according to bs en television, that police have launched an attack on the supermarket in trebes and that the attacker, to quote this copy, the attacker, to quote this copy, the attacker has been shot down. no other corroboration of that report at the moment but this is from bsn

television in france, saying police have launched an attack on the supermarket and that the gunman has been shot down. it has been a little bit unclearfor been shot down. it has been a little bit unclear for much of the last few hours about how many people exactly we re hours about how many people exactly were in that supermarket, though it had been suggested that there was one officer, as it turns out now a french military officer, in the supermarket with that individual, perhaps the authorities felt that it was a more secure situation, if you like, in which to launch that attack with less risk to members of the public? yes, exactly, and even earlier the reporter managed to access quite near to the supermarket and said it was complete silence, actually quite strange from the outside, considering all of the media excitement around it. over there it is really quiet, the

supermarket is blocked off, there we re supermarket is blocked off, there were reports of people seen from the windows on the floor, unresponsive, so that is obviously all... just while you are speaking, something on reuters has just come while you are speaking, something on reuters hasjust come in while you are speaking, something on reuters has just come in that the member of the military who swapped himself in exchange for one of the hostages is a 45—year—old lieutenant colonel, that is from another source close to the investigation, confirming what was reported by le figaro newspaper, so more detail coming about what has been going on inside that supermarket, that a military officer, lieutenant colonel, who is a5, put himself in the place of one of the hostages, offered himself so they could be free, but we also heard just a few seconds ago that police have launched a raid on that supermarket. yes, just looking for other corroboration of that, this is coming from bfn television, as far as i'm aware, scanning the wires

coming into us, this isjust from one source at the moment, that police have launched a raid on a supermarket and shot the attacker, though i would expect that we would get corroboration of that pretty quickly. we have not been given any information other than what we can see in front of us of what has become of the french lieutenant colonel who was in there with the hostage—takers at the point of this raid being launched on the supermarket. earlier i was looking on twitter and i saw a lady mentioning that they had managed to escape from the supermarket by the back door, by the back exit, she heard the gentleman shouting and then gunshots and they were locked inforan hourand then gunshots and they were locked in for an hour and then managed to escape. now that we are hearing more about this ers and what the police did, they were allowed to leave and

managed to escape, this is all speculation for now but they were prioritising the safety of the people and how they could damage control. we were in paris together just before the various rounds of the presidential election last year. there had been such a succession of attacks on france at that point. does it feel that the last year has been quieter? i was earlier yes, saying that i thought it was nearly a year that we had nothing. my colleague in paris, who was saying it has been six months that it has been quite quiet, yes, it has been a bit of a breather, to be honest, because it had been so difficult for the french people, really a trauma. i was obviously living in london so ididn't i was obviously living in london so i didn't see and feel the impact that it had on the people in france directly, but still from my friends, from my family, when i go there, you

a lwa ys from my family, when i go there, you always have this moment where people mention the attacks, and there it is this very damp and atmosphere where people are really down about it, very sad, and really in shock. i think the bataclan, all these attacks around paris, so, yes, people have been obviously more wary of what can happen, i guess that is why it is also now a big surprise, that it can happen in such a small place. but as i was saying earlier, specialists are saying that because cities have geared up against this kind of terrorist attack now they can act in smaller and very precise or individual events. and we now have a second source saying that the gunman has been shot, this is the french news agency afp, quoting police sources saying that the gunman has been shot by the security

forces, more than one source now saying that that has happened, that the attacker has been shot down after the police launched a raid on the supermarket where he was, alongside that french military officer, a5—year—old military officer, a5—year—old military officer who had taken the place of one of the hostages earlier. we have confirmation that he is a french moroccan gentlemen, 25 years old, this is as we were saying earlier from the source close to the investigation, and he was also followed by the intelligence services since 2013, and he was briefly injail in services since 2013, and he was briefly in jail in 2016 for other, as hugh was saying earlier, petty theft, drugs, we don't know exactly what it was... crime leading to

islamic terrorism? that is what is being said and reported, that many people who end up doing these kinds of things were probably having trouble for quite a while, feeling slightly left out from society, all sorts of reasons why he could have been led to do such a thing. but the fa ct been led to do such a thing. but the fact they have brought his mum and sister to the location, that shows that he's probably from the very near, maybe from carcassonne, maybe... why trebes? was there any link in particular why he went to this town? he seems obviously very, having quite... we are just getting on reuters that they are saying the attacker, the hostage taker, has been killed, according to a source close to the investigation, that is being reported on reuters, we have not got confirmation. his mother and

two sisters were at the scene at the supermarket, we presume are trying to talk to him somehow but then the raid was launched and now this news that the assailant in the attack in southern france has been killed, according to a source at this stage. that detail just according to a source at this stage. that detailjust emerging in the last few moments. we don't know what level of negotiation, if any, there was, but certainly we had heard earlier that the gunman had been making a number of demands of the police there. just a few minutes ago we heard from the french president, emmanuel macron, who is in brussels and made a short statement. translation: a few words about the ongoing developments in france, indeed an attack and hostagetaking operation are ongoing in our country, in the south of france, and everything leads us to believe that

indeed it is a terror attack which is, asi indeed it is a terror attack which is, as i said, still ongoing. the police and in particular the gendarmerie intervened in a very coordinated manner after what was first the attack against police officers, please allow me to express our utmost support to all of those addressing the situation. at this point in time, i will not provide any figures, the paris public prosecutor will shortly provide the releva nt prosecutor will shortly provide the relevant information, he has referred the matter to the dgsi and terror investigating magistrates are on their way as we speak. please allow me to express the utmost support of the french government and

authorities and particular our support to the police forces which are currently on the ground. ijust spoke to the minister of the interior, who is arriving on the spot, and the prime minister is back in paris. and i myself will be back there in a couple of hours in order to coordinate all the necessary measures to be taken. emmanuel macron speaking in brussels in the last few moments. just to bring you up—to—date with the latest news we are getting from trebes in south—western france, reports quoting sources close to this investigation said that the gunman, who was inside that super u supermarket in trebes, has been shot and killed, according to some reports after police there launched a raid on the supermarket. he had been inside the building with one

military officer, it has emerged, a man who offered earlier in this evolving situation to take the place of one of the hostages. and it was just after we heard that somebody of the military had gone in with the hostage taker that we got the news that the other hostages had been able to leave the supermarket, and we know that the sisters and mother of the hostage taker, the gunman, were there at the scene, which seems to imply that he was from the local area, but obviously we don't know anything more about that man at the moment. other than that man at the moment. other than that he was around 25 to 30 years of age and of moroccan origin. but it was a sequence of events that started in the nearby city of carcassonne earlier, because he had been shooting at a group of police officers who were outjogging that morning. he injured one of them, shooting him in the shoulder but we

believe before that he had hijacked a car in the city, carcassonne, and killed the passenger, injured the driver before taking the car to the supermarket where the hostage situation then unfolded. and we understand that two other debts then occurred, two more people we re debts then occurred, two more people were killed in trebes, the french interior ministry also saying that three people have been wounded as a result of the actions of the gunman, one of those seriously wounded, that is according to the french interior ministry. and the police union in france also confirming that an assault was carried out on the supermarket at the —— and the individual, they said, shot. so, that heard in the last few minutes, that the hostage situation is over because there was a police raid, enormous police and military presence at the scene of that

supermarket in the tiny little town of trebes, only 5000 or so inhabitants but 200 or 300 gendarmerie and other police and military, the situation over in a matter of hours with the gunman shot and killed according to french media reports. helene is here, what reports. helene is here, what reports are you getting on social media? the interior minister has arrived in trebes tweeting, arriving on site where i am joining all of the security forces and their mobilisation is absolutely total, please don't spread any fake news, he is even doing the hashtag #fa kenews, he is even doing the hashtag #fakenews, saying, he is even doing the hashtag #fa kenews, saying, please he is even doing the hashtag #fakenews, saying, please follow instead his own twitter handle. we have u nfortu nately instead his own twitter handle. we have unfortunately had so many of these attacks in recent years, not

spreading the wrong thing, making sure people are not starting to get into rumours, twitter obviously and social media, we know that it can go really wrong quickly, so even the home secretary is reminding that and, yes, we have now definitely the confirmation that the assault was given and the attacker has been killed. 0k, given and the attacker has been killed. ok, let's just given and the attacker has been killed. 0k, let'sjust remind you of what we have been hearing over the last few minutes here on bbc news, with special coverage of what has been going on in south—western france, because three people were killed when a gunman opened fire, took several people hostage at a supermarket in the town of trebes as well as a person in a car he then hijacked. the latest development is that believes in the last few minutes, we believe, raided the supermarket and there are unconfirmed reports that the gunman who had been in there for at least a

couple of hours, has been killed. plenty more coverage to come here on bbc news. good afternoon, it was a cloudy start of the day but sunshine has been breaking through the cloud for many parts of the country so and improving weather picture across the uk as we look through this afternoon. this picture comes from one of our weather watchers in braintree in essex, you can see the fairweather cloud around there, not dry everywhere but many parts of the country enjoying a largely dry afternoon. if we look at the satellite image, we can see this band of clouds clearing from the east then a clearer window of whether before the next area of cloud heads in from the south—west. this is the low—pressure system bringing outbreaks of rain to parts of wales and the south—west of england, you can see that on the recent radar image. we also have rain and hill snow across northern and western scotland with a few isolated showers for northern ireland and northern england through the afternoon. away from these

areas, particularly for central and eastern parts of the grid, it is looking find out there would like wind and sunshine, 12 degrees or so, feel unpleasant, cooler towards the north—west where we have the showers falling as low across the mountains of scotland. rain and snow across scotla nd of scotland. rain and snow across scotland pushes away through this evening, clearing skies for scotland and northern ireland, clouding over for england and wales and the rain arrives to the south—west, patchy rain working further north and east, temperatures remaining frost free for england and wales but subzero across scotland and parts of northern ireland so a frosty start a saturday morning here. through the weekend a lot of dry weather, spells and sunshine, still some showers to the north—west of the country but temperatures around average, certainly a lot milder than it was last weekend. during saturday we have quite a bit of cloud across england and wales, some light

outbreaks of rain may be towards the south, becoming more confined to the east as we look through the afternoon. more sunshine further north—west across the country, still some wintry showers, just falling asleep and snow on the mountains. a drier day across the board on sunday, just a bit of rain and hill snow in the far north—west of scotla nd snow in the far north—west of scotland would more sunshine, less cloud across england and wales, and with those temperatures between ten to 13 degrees with relatively light winds, it should feel quite pleasant on sunday, but as we look ahead to next week it looks like things are going to turn colder as we head closer to easter, and don't forget the clocks go forward by one hour during the early hours of sunday morning. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. later we will bring you the latest on brexit talks and growing support for theresa may ‘s stance on russia. first the ongoing attack in france with the gunman is being that has been shot in the last few minutes,.

breaking news this hour, please put an end to a hostage situation at a supermarket in south—west france. the man had opened fire on police and had hijacked a car, killing one person. later he killed two more. translation: everything believes us to believe it is a terror act. i just spoke to the minister of the interior who is arriving on the spot. and the prime minister is back in paris. and i will be back in a couple of hours to coordinate all the necessary measures.