An
18-year-old has been shot dead in the southern French city of Nîmes,
days after a boy aged 10 was killed by gunfire in an attack linked to
the drugs trade.
Both shootings took place in the Pissevin area of the city which has become plagued by drug violence.
The first victim, called Fayed, was fatally shot on Monday night while he was in a car with his uncle.
In the latest attack. the teenage victim was ambushed a few streets away.
Local
prosecutor Cécile Gensac said it was the 10-year-old's misfortune to be
"in the wrong place at the wrong time" shortly before midnight on
Monday.
Fayed
was shot just 100m from his home in Pissevin. His family had no
connection with drug gangs and had never had any brush with authority,
the prosecutor said.
Police
believe the uncle's Renault Clio car had been wrongly linked by the
killers to another shooting and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin spoke
of a "tit-for-tat attack between drug dealers".
Nîmes
Mayor Jean-Paul Fournier said he was saddened and revolted by the boy's
death and police sent an elite CRS8 team to beef up security.
The
CR8 have already been deployed 100km (60 miles) to the south in
Marseille, where drug turf wars have claimed a dozen lives in little
more than a month.
Two
rival gangs, Yoda and DZ Mafia, are said to be behind most of the
shootings in northern areas of the Mediterranean port city, particularly
in the high-rise district of La Paternelle.
Smaller regional cities such as Nîmes are now becoming caught up in the drugs war.
Despite
the deployment of about 20 elite police, the second shooting there this
week took place in the early hours of Thursday. Authorities said it
unfolded during a drug deal and the 18-year-old victim was known to
police.
The local prosecutor said bullet casings were found at the scene and the murder was being linked to organised crime.
French
reports said the teenager had been carrying a satchel containing €5 and
€10 notes when his attackers opened fire, apparently with a
assault-type rifle and a handgun.
A young student tried in vain to resuscitate him. The satchel with the cash was found by his side.
