A French police officer has been shot dead in the city of Avignon during an anti-narcotics operation, Prime Minister Jean Castex said. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said several officers had been shot at during the raid and one had been killed. "The police officer has died. We think of the family and his colleagues during this terrible drama," Darmanin said on his Twitter account, adding that he would go to Avignon on Wednesday evening. The shooter is on the run in Avignon, a police union source said. BFM television reported that the shooter had fled the scene on a kick scooter. Police union official Vincent Dath told Reuters the officer was shot during a raid on a well-known drug-dealing spot. "It looks like this is a narcotics affair, not a terror-related attack," Dath said. France has suffered a series of fatal attacks on police officers by Islamist militants in recent years. Late last month, a Tunisian-born man shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) fatally stabbed a police administrative worker as she walked into a police station in a Paris commuter town. read more