French shooting show injures 16

Four of the wounded are in a critical condition, including a young child.

A Defence Ministry official said the incident occurred during a demonstration of hostage-freeing techniques at a barracks in Aude.

The soldier who fired the shots has been detained. It is not clear why the wrong ammunition was used.

Reports from the scene say the hostage scenario had been acted out five times before a crowd at the Laperrine military barracks, near Carcassonne, when on the sixth take real bullets began flying through the air, and onlookers fell to the ground.