<p class="title">French President Emmanuel Macron will lead a national ceremony today honouring a heroic policeman who died offering himself as a hostage in a jihadist attack.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 44, was the fourth and final victim in the shooting spree last Friday in the southwestern towns of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"In giving his life to bring to an end the deadly actions of a jihadist terrorist, he died a hero," Macron said ahead of the ceremony.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The senior policeman had taken the place of a woman held as a final hostage in a supermarket by 25-year-old gunman Radouane Lakdim, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.</p>.<p class="bodytext">France has lost more than 240 lives to jihadists over the past three years, and the attack is the country's worst since Macron became president last May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Around 200 of Beltrame's colleagues from the gendarmerie, a national police force which is part of the military, will attend the ceremony in Paris from 1030 GMT.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Macron will give the eulogy at Les Invalides, a historic complex which is home to France's army museum and a veterans' retirement centre.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Across the country, police stations will pause for a minute's silence at 1330 IST.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The coffin of Beltrame, who was married, was flown in from Carcassonne on Tuesday, draped in the French flag with his military cap laid upon it.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Along with the police officer, Lakdim shot dead the passenger of a car he hijacked in Carcassonne and two people in the supermarket he had besieged in Trebes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beltrame took the place of the woman Lakdim was using as a human shield, hoping to negotiate once the terrified shoppers and supermarket staff were out of the way.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But Lakdim shot Beltrame and slit his throat, leading police to intervene and shoot the attacker dead.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The attacker wounded four other people, including the driver of the hijacked car and a policeman shot while out jogging.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beltrame has been hailed as a national hero, with family members saying it was typical of him to put others first.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You behaved in your last moments just as you behaved throughout your whole life: as a patriot, as a good man, as a man with a big heart," his brother Damien wrote on Facebook.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Macron's government has meanwhile come under criticism from rightwing opponents who allege that the attack could have been prevented.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lakdim, who had previous convictions for drug use and handling a banned weapon, had been on a list of suspected extremists since 2014 and was being monitored.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A police source told AFP that Lakdim had been summoned by anti-terror police for questioning earlier this month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused the government of exploiting the grief over Beltrame to "escape from its own incompetence and cowardice" in failing to tackle Islamic extremism.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Prime Minister Edouard Philippe hit back at the criticism Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Those who say ignorantly that this attack could have been avoided, those who promise people zero risk -- I say to them, these people bear a heavy responsibility in speaking so casually," Philippe told parliament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He rejected rightwing proposals to impose an outright ban on ultraconservative Salafist Islam or "preemptively" detain the most radicalised Islamists.</p>.<p class="bodytext">France already has "a legal arsenal" to "understand, monitor and sanction" extremists, Philippe said. </p>
<p class="title">French President Emmanuel Macron will lead a national ceremony today honouring a heroic policeman who died offering himself as a hostage in a jihadist attack.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 44, was the fourth and final victim in the shooting spree last Friday in the southwestern towns of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"In giving his life to bring to an end the deadly actions of a jihadist terrorist, he died a hero," Macron said ahead of the ceremony.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The senior policeman had taken the place of a woman held as a final hostage in a supermarket by 25-year-old gunman Radouane Lakdim, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.</p>.<p class="bodytext">France has lost more than 240 lives to jihadists over the past three years, and the attack is the country's worst since Macron became president last May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Around 200 of Beltrame's colleagues from the gendarmerie, a national police force which is part of the military, will attend the ceremony in Paris from 1030 GMT.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Macron will give the eulogy at Les Invalides, a historic complex which is home to France's army museum and a veterans' retirement centre.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Across the country, police stations will pause for a minute's silence at 1330 IST.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The coffin of Beltrame, who was married, was flown in from Carcassonne on Tuesday, draped in the French flag with his military cap laid upon it.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Along with the police officer, Lakdim shot dead the passenger of a car he hijacked in Carcassonne and two people in the supermarket he had besieged in Trebes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beltrame took the place of the woman Lakdim was using as a human shield, hoping to negotiate once the terrified shoppers and supermarket staff were out of the way.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But Lakdim shot Beltrame and slit his throat, leading police to intervene and shoot the attacker dead.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The attacker wounded four other people, including the driver of the hijacked car and a policeman shot while out jogging.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beltrame has been hailed as a national hero, with family members saying it was typical of him to put others first.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You behaved in your last moments just as you behaved throughout your whole life: as a patriot, as a good man, as a man with a big heart," his brother Damien wrote on Facebook.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Macron's government has meanwhile come under criticism from rightwing opponents who allege that the attack could have been prevented.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lakdim, who had previous convictions for drug use and handling a banned weapon, had been on a list of suspected extremists since 2014 and was being monitored.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A police source told AFP that Lakdim had been summoned by anti-terror police for questioning earlier this month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused the government of exploiting the grief over Beltrame to "escape from its own incompetence and cowardice" in failing to tackle Islamic extremism.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Prime Minister Edouard Philippe hit back at the criticism Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Those who say ignorantly that this attack could have been avoided, those who promise people zero risk -- I say to them, these people bear a heavy responsibility in speaking so casually," Philippe told parliament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He rejected rightwing proposals to impose an outright ban on ultraconservative Salafist Islam or "preemptively" detain the most radicalised Islamists.</p>.<p class="bodytext">France already has "a legal arsenal" to "understand, monitor and sanction" extremists, Philippe said. </p>