A 10-year-old boy has been shot dead in suspected drugs-related violence in the southern French town of Nimes, authorities said Tuesday, with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin mourning an "immense tragedy." A French policeman stands guard near the scene of the attack.(AP File)

The boy was travelling in a car with his uncle through the deprived Pissevin area of the city when they were targeted at around 1130 pm (2130 GMT) on Monday evening.

Local prosecutor Cecile Gensac told reporters Tuesday that the victim's family "was absolutely not associated in any way, neither before nor currently, in acts of a criminal nature."

Police are working on the assumption of mistaken identity, with the Renault Clio being driven by the boy's uncle resembling a car used in a separate drive-by shooting at the weekend.

"A 10-year-old child killed in what looks like a tit-for-tat attack between drug dealers," Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "It's an immense tragedy that will not go unpunished."

The gunmen, who are believed to be four, are on the run.

"I'm profoundly shocked, saddened and revolted by this new tragedy," the mayor of Nimes, Jean-Paul Fournier, wrote online.

A series of violent incidents in regional towns in southern France, usually related to the drugs trade, have led to increased fears about crime and promises of new police resources from the French government.

The southern port city of Marseille, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Nimes, remains a key entry point for drugs into Europe and has suffered decades of violent crime between rival criminal networks as a result.

Two gangs, "Yoda" and "DZ Mafia", are currently locked in a spiral of violence there as they seek to control the drugs market in the notorious northern neighbourhoods of France's second biggest city.

Since the start of the year, 37 people have died in the gang war, according to an AFP count, already six more than in all of 2022.

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