Three police officers shot dead in central France

Shafaq News/  Three French police officers were shot dead when a man opened fire on them when they arrived at a house in a remote village in response to a call about domestic violence against a woman, police said on Wednesday.

A search was underway for the suspected gunman and police reinforcements had been dispatched to seal off the area, the interior ministry said.

“Everything is being done to apprehend the individual and protect the population in the area,” the ministry said in a statement.

French officials made no mention of any suspected militant motive behind the incident.

The incident began when a group of officers from the gendarme police force arrived at a house in a small hamlet near the town of Saint-Just in the early hours of the morning, following a call about domestic violence.

When police arrived, a man starting shooting at them and then set fire to the house, Reuters stated.

 “This is a gendarme operation which is related to domestic violence, which has seen some developments that are still in progress,” a representative of the regional prefect’s office told Reuters.

The interior ministry said the three gendarme officers killed in the incident. A fourth officer, who was wounded, did not have life-threatening injuries, the ministry added in a statement.