French policeman slain in shootout; Spanish media report ETA link

French policeman slain in shootout

PARIS — A French police officer was killed Tuesday in an exchange of fire with assailants east of Paris, and one suspect was taken into custody, a police official said.

The official said she had no information suggesting the assailants were members of the Basque separatist group ETA, as was reported by Spanish media. She spoke on condition of anonymity, in keeping with department policy.

The circumstances of the shooting death of the 53-year-old officer in the Paris suburb of Dammarie-les-Lys were still unclear. One suspect was being questioned, and police were searching for at least one other assailant, the police official said.

It was not immediately clear how the assailants and police came into contact.

By one police union’s account, the officers were following up on a report of a vehicle theft in the area and stopped a car on the road to check its registration. At that point, assailants in a second car began shooting at police, Michel Thooris of the France Police union said.

Thooris said anti-terrorism police were involved in the investigation, but he stressed that authorities had not confirmed any ETA link.

Spain’s El Mundo newspaper, quoting Spanish investigators, said the suspect who was arrested identified himself as an ETA member, speaking in Basque, when he was taken into custody. The paper said he was wanted in Spain for acts of low-level street violence of the kind usually associated with pro-ETA youth groups.

The Spanish Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

ETA has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s in its campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.