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Corsica: French official gunned down after vote

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Corsica: French official gunned down after vote
Forensic teams examine the car belonging to top lawyer Antoine Sollacaro, 63, who was shot dead in 2012. Photo: AFP

Violence returned to the island of Corsica on Sunday when a regional official was gunned down after supporting his daughter's candidature at the local elections. Last year there were 17 murders in Corsica, known as the "Island of Beauty", and 14 attempted ones.

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A regional official on France's Mediterranean island of Corsica was shot dead Sunday after supporting his daughter's bid for election to a municipal post, law enforcement sources said.

Jean Leccia, a 53-year-old government services director, was killed at the wheel of his car in the town of Aleria by two assailants on a motorbike who fled the scene.

He had been returning from another town where his daughter was standing for a local council seat in French municipal elections.

A local prosecutor inspected the crime scene, around which a police security cordon had been established.

Murders occur regularly on Corsica, where a nationalist movement seeking independence from mainland France has long targeted symbols of French authority. Criminal score-settling is also common.

Sunday's killing was the second murder this year. Last year, there were 17 murders and 14 attempted murders.

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