14-year-old shot dead with an assault rifle in Marseille

Enlarge image

France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin condemned the act as "shameful"

Photo: LOIC VENANCE / AFP

According to the public prosecutor's office, two strangers shot a 14-year-old teenager with an assault rifle in the coastal city of Marseille in the south of France.

In addition, another 14-year-old and an eight-year-old were injured in the attack.

France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin condemned the act as "shameful" and blamed drug gangs for it: The "war over drug deal sites" was "undoubtedly one of the reasons for such armed attacks".

According to the public prosecutor's office, the unknown perpetrators drove a motorcycle into the poverty-stricken residential area Cité des Maronniers.

They were armed with at least one Kalashnikov type assault rifle, opened fire on the street and then fled.

It is unclear whether the young people were targeted.

Fight against drug trafficking

Interior Minister Darmanin expressed his horror at the act during a visit to the municipality of Gardanne near Marseille.

He spoke of a "reign of terror in neighborhoods or apartment blocks which, according to our knowledge, have fallen victim to drug traffickers."

Darmanin made the fight against drug trafficking one of his priorities when he took office over a year ago.

In the past few months there had been repeated acts of violence in the satellite towns in the north of Marseille and in other areas with rampant drug trafficking.

According to the police prefecture, eleven people have been killed in such attacks since the beginning of the year.

The police and the judiciary often fail to track down those responsible and hold them accountable.

Interior Minister Darmanin said: "Some drug traffickers have fled abroad to avoid the national police, others are in jail." Others struggled to take their places.

In the past ten years, however, the number of deaths from gang fights has been halved by the use of the police.

kim / AFP