News

A French police officer was shot and killed in a suburb near Paris on Tuesday after his patrol was fired on by a group which investigators believe may have belonged to the armed Basque group ETA, police said.

The 52 year-old officer was part of a patrol which halted a speeding car near a garage in Dammarie-les-Lys, east of Paris at around 7.15 p.m. (1815 GMT).

It was not immediately clear how Tuesday''s shooting occurred. French police union member Michel Thooris said officers had been following up on a vehicle theft report and stopped a car to check its registration, at which point assailants in a second car began shooting and killed one officer. "An officer was mortally wounded in the chest and the other officers were unharmed," a police spokesman said.

One man was arrested after the ensuing shootout and he gave a Spanish identity corresponding to that of a Basque close to ETA, said a judicial source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We think it was a commando group of between four and six people including a woman," the source said.

A big police search operation was mounted near the scene on Tuesday night and an anti-terrorism magistrate joined the operation. French police say authorities are looking for at least one other assailant.

Spanish media said Tuesday''s attack allegedly marked ETA''s first killing of a French police officer.

France helps Spain fight ETA by staging joint raids against suspected members, providing intelligence and allowing Spanish officers to operate in southwestern France under a bilateral accord signed in 2008.