Three police officers shot dead in central France

Three French police officers were shot dead when a man initiated fire on them when they reached a house in a remote village in answer to a call about domestic violence against a woman, police said on Wednesday.

A hunt was underway for the suspected gunman and police reinforcements had been despatched to seal off the area, the interior ministry announced . France’s BFMTV broadcaster reported the suspect was still armed.

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

The incident started 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, according to BFMTV.

“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 were aged 21, 37, and 45. A fourth officer, who was wounded, did not have life-threatening injuries, the ministry added in a statement.