The French police officer who was shot after he swapped himself for a hostage during an Isis-inspired terror attack on a supermarket has died.

Arnaud Beltrame, 44, took the place of a woman being held captive by suspect Redouane Lakdim at the Super U store in Trebes in the south of France.

“He fell as a hero, giving up his life to halt the murderous outfit of a jihadist terrorist,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Saturday morning.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb also paid tribute to the gendarme by tweeting that he had “died for his country”.

“Never will France forget his heroism, his bravery, his sacrifice,” he added.

Mr Beltrame, who had served in Iraq in 2005, was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the siege on Friday.

He offered to trade places – unarmed – with a hostage the attacker was still holding. He then entered the store with his mobile phone, which he managed to surreptitiously leave on a table with the line open so colleagues could hear what was happening.

When shots were heard, elite police stormed the building and killed the suspect.

Mr Beltrame, who was shot three times, became the fourth victim of the hostage-taker, a 25 year-old Moroccan-born French national from the nearby city of Carcassonne.

The attack began when Lakdim hijacked a car after injuring the driver and killing a passenger, whose body was later found in bushes.

He then shot at a group of police joggers before driving to the supermarket. Lakdim is reported to have shouted: “I am a solder of Daesh [Isis]”.

He killed a customer and a store worker and seized others as hostages. Most of the people in the store managed to escape by hiding in a cold store before fleeing through an emergency exit.

Isis has claimed responsibility for the attack, which is the first deadly terrorist incident since October 2017.

Lakdim, who was known to authorities for drug-dealing and other petty crimes, had been under surveillance by security services in 2016 and 2017 for links to the radical Salafist movement, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.

Beltrame was a qualified parachutist who has worked as part of the elite Republican Guard that protects the presidential Élysée Palace offices and residence in Paris.

His mother told a French radio station that she wasn’t surprised by her son’s courage.

She said: “I knew it had to be him. He has always been like that. It’s someone, since he was born, who gives everything for his homeland.

Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Show all 14 1 /14 Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Rescue forces and police officers at a supermarket after a hostage situation in Trebes, Reuters Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Forensic police investigate after the gendarme's assault on the Super U supermarket. EPA Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Police are seen at the scene of a hostage situation in a supermarket in Trebes. Reuters Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting A view of the Super U supermarket where a gunman reportedly claimed allegiance to the Islamic State and is holding hostages. EPA Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Emmanuel Macron is informed by his security advisor about the hostage situation in Trebes during the joint press conference with Angela Merkel at the summit of European Union leaders. AFP/Getty Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting A gendarmerie helicopter flies over the Super U supermarket. EPA Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting French gendarmes and police establish a security perimeter around the Super U supermarket. EPA Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Police officers secure evidence. EPA Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting French gendarmes block the access to Trebes. AFP/Getty Images Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Police attend the incident in Trebes. La Depeche Du Midi via AP Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting French police and firefighters secure the entrance of Trebes. AP Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting A genera; view of The Super U shop in Trèbes, southern France, where hostages were reportedly taken by a gunman claiming allegiance to Isis. Google Street View Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting Police block a road near the scene. Reuters Trebes siege: France supermarket shooting French gendarmes block the access to Trebes. AFP/Getty