<p>Paris: French police in Rouen shot dead an armed man who set fire to the city's synagogue, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and local officials said on Friday.</p><p>The incident occurred in central Rouen, 130 kilometres (80.78 miles) northwest of Paris, early on Friday morning, Darmanin said in a post on social network X.</p>.A France in shock confronts the violence in its midst.<p>The attacker's identity and motive were still unclear. He was carrying a knife and iron bar, according to local authorities.</p><p>France hosts the Olympic Summer Games in two months and recently raised its alert status to the highest level against a complex geopolitical backdrop in the Middle East and Europe's eastern flank.</p><p>Elie Korchia, the president of France's Consistoire Central Jewish worshippers body, said police had "avoided another anti-Semitic tragedy".</p><p>Regional broadcaster France 3 said fire fighters were on the site. The fire had been brought under control, a Rouen city hall official said.</p><p>Rouen's mayor said the Normandy town was 'battered and shocked'.</p><p>The city in 2016 was rocked by an attack later claimed by the Islamic State, when a priest was killed with a knife during service in town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, in the southern part of Rouen's urban agglomeration.</p>
<p>Paris: French police in Rouen shot dead an armed man who set fire to the city's synagogue, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and local officials said on Friday.</p><p>The incident occurred in central Rouen, 130 kilometres (80.78 miles) northwest of Paris, early on Friday morning, Darmanin said in a post on social network X.</p>.A France in shock confronts the violence in its midst.<p>The attacker's identity and motive were still unclear. He was carrying a knife and iron bar, according to local authorities.</p><p>France hosts the Olympic Summer Games in two months and recently raised its alert status to the highest level against a complex geopolitical backdrop in the Middle East and Europe's eastern flank.</p><p>Elie Korchia, the president of France's Consistoire Central Jewish worshippers body, said police had "avoided another anti-Semitic tragedy".</p><p>Regional broadcaster France 3 said fire fighters were on the site. The fire had been brought under control, a Rouen city hall official said.</p><p>Rouen's mayor said the Normandy town was 'battered and shocked'.</p><p>The city in 2016 was rocked by an attack later claimed by the Islamic State, when a priest was killed with a knife during service in town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, in the southern part of Rouen's urban agglomeration.</p>