(Image source from: Hooded gunmen with Kalashnikov})

Marseille police shot at by hooded gunmen just as Prime Minister Manuel Valls came for a scheduled visit to hail statistics showing a fall in crime in France's second largest city. French police sealed off a housing estate in Marseille on Monday after hooded gunmen opened fire on a police car with Kalashnikov rifles. France has been put on high alert following Islamist attacks in Paris last month that killed 17 people.

Elite police is deployed following the incident on the north side of the city and residents of La Castellane neighbourhood, were ordered to stay indoors. A senior local official suggested that this was an incident related to drug crime. "This battle against drug trafficking is a long-term battle," said Caroline Pozmentier, deputy mayor of Marseille. "It's got everything - prostitution, drugs trafficking, violence. It's a dangerous cocktail and we saw evidence of that today," Samia Ghali, a senator from the Mediterranean port city told. "There were shots fired in the direction of a police vehicle coming from hooded individuals armed with Kalashnikovs," local police chief Pierre-Marie Bourniquel told.

By Premji