Paris, Mar 24 (IANS): A French police officer who swapped himself for a hostage in a supermarket siege in Trebes has died, a minister said on Saturday.

Announcing the Lt-Col Arnaud Beltrame's death on Twitter, Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said: "He died for his country. France will never forget his heroism, his bravery, his sacrifice," reports the BBC.

The gendarme helped bring an end to a gunman's shooting spree on Friday that killed three in southern France.

The radical Islamist gunman, Redouane Lakdim, 25, was shot dead.

Beltrame had been hailed as a hero by French President Emmanuel Macron.

On Friday night, Macron had revealed that Beltrame had suffered serious injuries and was fighting for his life in hospital.

Sixteen people were injured, two seriously, in what the President called an act of "Islamist terrorism", the BBC reported.

Lakdim was said to have demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the most important surviving suspect in the November 13, 2015, attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people.

One person - believed to be Lakdim's partner - has been arrested in connection with the shootings.