French police shot and wounded a man claiming to be a member of al-Qaeda after he took hostages in a bank in the southwestern city of Toulouse.
The man, known by police to have a record of psychological problems, was shot after he emerged from the bank with one hostage, prompting him to return inside for shelter, police sources said.
Elite police units then stormed the bank and arrested him, freeing the last two of the four hostages he had taken after an almost seven-hour stand-off.
The man had earlier released two female hostages after receiving food and water in the early afternoon. All four hostages were in good health.
The 26-year-old took the hostages, who included the bank manager, in a branch of CIC bank around mid-morning. He fired two rubber bullets from his gun earlier in the day.
It was the latest drama to hit the Toulouse region after an al- Qaeda-inspired gunman shot dead three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in March.
The hostage-taker had asked for the elite RAID commando unit to come to the scene - the same squad which shot dead 23-year-old gunman Mohammed Merah in March after a long standoff at his home, which was just metres from the site of today’s siege.
Toulouse has seen a number of short-lived hostage situations in recent weeks, including a drama last week at a local weather forecasting office, but none resulted in casualties.
Anti-terrorist police were brought in from the nearby cities of Bordeaux and Marseille and the area was sealed off.
A bomb disposal team had been sent to the scene at one stage after the man told them he had explosives.
