Three soldiers shot in France

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Two paratroopers killed and another critically injured by gunman on scooter in second such attack within a week
A policeman at the scene in Montauban where three French soldiers were shot dead
A policeman holds a military jacket covered with blood at the scene in Montauban where three French soldiers were shot dead. Photograph: Eric Cabanis/AFP/Getty

Investigators fear an assassin on a scooter is targeting French soldiers after two were killed and a third seriously injured in a "ride-by" shooting, the second attack in less than a week.

The three members of a parachute regiment were shot in a busy town centre on Thursday afternoon. Two died on the spot, while the third was reported to be in a critical condition in hospital.

The attack followed the murder last weekend of an officer in another parachute regiment, shot in a similar manner by a motorcycle gunman.

The soldiers, all in their 20s and wearing uniform, were standing by a cash machine in Montauban, south-west France. Police who sealed off the town centre before investigating said that it was unclear whether the three were withdrawing money, or had left a nearby shop or restaurant and were passing by when they came under a fusilade of shots shortly after 2pm, heard by people nearby. The killer, who was wearing a full-face helmet, then rode off on a scooter; more than a dozen spent cartridges were found at the scene.

The men were serving in the 17th Parachute Regiment, which has done tours of duty in Afghanistan, Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia, and is based at a barracks very near the attack.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, visiting eastern France, said he had sent defence minister Gérard Longuet to Montauban to direct operations, but could not say more: "The circumstances are confused and at the current time I cannot give you any explanation." Longuet said he was confident investigators would do all they could to ensure the gunman was brought to justice, adding that his thoughts were with the "families of the dead men and their regiment".

Brigitte Barèges, mayor of Montauban, said that she was "shocked and outraged" by "an assassination that appeared like a true summary execution". The regiment had "already paid, sadly, the price of the war in Afghanistan", she added, having lost four soldiers there.

On Sunday in a suburb of Toulouse, 46km south of Montauban, an off-duty member of another regiment was shot in the head at point blank range by a gunman on a scooter. Imad Ibn-Ziaten, 30, a marshall in the 1st Parachute Regiment, was standing next to his Suzuki 650cc motorbike outside a gym and had been wearing his helmet at the time; he was not in uniform.

Detectives say that Ziaten had advertised his motorbike for sale and took a call from what appeared to be an interested buyer minutes before he was killed. Ziaten's commanding officer said that he had served with the French army in Ivory Coast, Chad and Gabon.

But police hunting the killer or killers in the two cases have said that they have yet to establish a definite link. A police source told journalists: "Every-one thinks there's a link between the two incidents, but we have to wait for the first results of the inquiry."