Five suspects in court over fatal gangland shooting in France

Marseille: Five suspects appeared in court Friday in connection with a gangland shooting in southern France last month in which two criminals and an innocent bystander were killed, prosecutors in Marseille told AFP.

Two men with criminal records were killed in the shooting on July 28 at a car wash in the southern town of Ollioules, in an apparent settling of scores between rival drug gangs.

But the shootout also claimed the life of an innocent woman in her late fifties, who was a passenger on a scooter.

Twenty kilograms of cannabis resin were seized during police searches at the crime scene.

All five suspects appeared before a judge Friday and one was charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder and of being a member of a criminal gang, a prosecutor said.

On Tuesday nine people were arrested in connection with the enquiry into the shooting. Four were later released without charge.

The investigators "could quickly determine that this was a deadly settling of scores in the context of a conflict between drug traffickers," a prosecutor's statement said.