France holds state funeral for police hero of Trebes siege

Emmanuel Macron awarded the policeman with the Legion of Honour during a national ceremony in Paris. Pic/AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron led a national ceremony honouring a heroic policeman who died offering himself as a hostage in a jihadist attack. Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 44, was the fourth and final victim in the shooting spree last Friday in the southwestern towns of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes. "In giving his life to bring to an end the deadly actions of a jihadist terrorist, he died a hero," Macron said ahead of the ceremony.

The senior policeman had taken the place of a woman held as a final hostage in a supermarket by 25-year-old gunman Radouane Lakdim, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.