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Paris Shooting: Election Campaign Halts As ISIS Claims attack

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The French presidential campaign was stopped in its tracks on Friday after a deadly attack on a police bus on the Champs-Elysees in the heart of Paris.

The gunman, who killed one police officer and injured others in the attack, was shot dead at the scene. French police arrested three members of his family early Friday, while a man suspected of being linked to the shooting surrendered himself in Belgium.
ISIS claimed that the attack — days before the first round of voting and just as candidates were taking part in a TV debate — was carried out by one of its “fighters”, whom it called “the Belgian.”
French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Hendry Brandet told CNN that the suspect turned himself in to police in the Belgian capital Antwerp early Friday. It was too early tell tell what role he played, if any, in the attack, Brandet told Europe 1 radio.
Three of 11 presidential candidates have halted campaigning after the shooting, which came three days before French voters go to the polls.
Security in Paris has been building in recent days, but the presence of 50,000 police officers on the streets weren’t enough to prevent the latest assault, which a source tells CNN is being treated as an act of terror.
French President Francois Hollande convened a meeting of the country’s defense council Friday.
The gunman, who was shot dead by police, had a long criminal record, a source close to the investigation told CNN. He was the subject of a “Fiche S” surveillance file and was on the radar of the French domestic security service DGSI, the source said.
A French national, the man shot two officers in 2001 after being stopped by a police car, according to the source. He was taken into custody but while being questioned grabbed another officer’s gun and shot him three times, the source added. He was convicted in that attack and had a criminal record because of involvement in violent robberies.

Election campaigning paused

Coming days before France votes in the first round of its presidential election Sunday, the shooting puts national security, terrorism and immigration at the heart of an already divisive campaign.
Terrorism in France.
With a record number of voters still undecided, analysts say the shooting could play into the narrative pushed by the far-right.
As of Friday morning local time, leading candidates François Fillon, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen had all canceled campaign events, with Macron citing the extra burden policing political rallies placed on the security services.
Speaking during a televised debate around the time of Thursday’s attack, Fillon said there was “no room for pursuing today or tomorrow an electoral campaign because first of all we have to demonstrate our solidarity with the police officers.”
Left-wing insurgent Jean-Luc Mélenchon warned against allowing panic to “interrupt democracy.”
Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen said the attack showed the time for naivety “is over.”
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