'Islamist' attacker shoots two police officers on French island of Reunion

A suspected Islamist has shot and wounded two policemen on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

The man opened fire with as he was being detained by officers in the Saint-Benoit arrondissement on Thursday (27 April).

"The man refused to be arrested and fired a rifle at police," a local government official on the island said.

They added that the assailant was also "suspected of being radicalised".

The suspect, aged in his 20s, is currently in custody.

The injuries suffered by the two officers are not thought to be life-threatening.

The anti-terrorist department of the Paris prosecutor's office is investigating the attack. Officers on the island were seen leading away a person, who had their head covered, from an apartment block in the capital of Saint-Denis-de-la-Reunion.

France's police union Unite SGP POLICE-FO said it was "deeply shocked and angry after this new attack".

It "shows that policemen are in danger throughout the national territory and not only in certain areas as judges would have us believe", it added.

It comes a week after a French policeman was shot dead and two others wounded at Paris' Champs-Élysées. The attack was claimed by Isis.

A jihadist network, thought to be the first operating in a French overseas territory, was smashed in Reunion in June 2015. Their leader, a 21-year-old known as "The Egyptian", was arrested and transferred to Paris.

Authorities in Reunion estimate there are around 100 radicalised Islamists on the island.