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PARIS: An 11-year-old girl is dead after a 71-year-old man armed with a gun opened fire on his neighbours, also wounding her parents, police said on Monday. 

The shooter, who is from the Netherlands, severely injured the girl's father before barricading himself in his house with his wife and later being removed by special police forces.

The incident took place in the village of Plonevez-du-Faou, near the city of Quimper in the Brittany region. According to local media, the victims were a British family. 

Another 8-year-old girl in the family was physically unharmed, according to the prosecutor's office, but is in shock. 

According to initial investigations, the pensioner suddenly appeared in the evening with a firearm and fired several times at the family, who were in their garden.

There had been a conflict between the two neighbours for several years over a piece of land bordering the two properties. The exact motive is not yet clear, said prosecutor Carine Halley. Police say they have opened a homicide investigation.