Riot police set off explosions outside an
apartment building early Thursday in an effort to force the surrender of a
gunman who boasted of bringing France "to its knees" with an al-Qaida-linked
terror spree that killed seven people. Hundreds of heavily armed police, some
in body armor, surrounded the five-story building in Toulouse where the
24-year-old suspect, Mohamed Merah, had been holed up since the pre-dawn hours
of Wednesday. As midnight approached, three explosions were heard and orange
flashes lit up the night sky near the building. An Interior Ministry official
said the suspect had gone back on a previous pledge to turn himself in — and
that police blew up the shutters outside the apartment window to pressure him
to surrender. Sporadic blasts and bursts of gunfire rang out throughout the
night, though officials insisted no full-out assault was under way. "It's
not as simple as that. We are waiting," the Toulouse prosecutor, Michel
Valet, told The Associated Press. Authorities said the shooter, a French citizen
of Algerian descent, had been to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he claimed to
have received training from al-Qaida.
They said he told negotiators he killed a rabbi
and three young children at a Jewish school on Monday and three French
paratroopers last week to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and to
protest the French army's involvement in Afghanistan, as well as a government
ban last year on face-covering Islamic veils. "He has no regrets, except
not having more time to kill more people and he boasts that he has brought
France to its knees," Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins told a news
conference. French authorities — like others in Europe — have long been
concerned about "lone-wolf" attacks by young, Internet-savvy
militants who self-radicalize online since they are harder to find and track.
Still, it was the first time a radical Islamic motive has been ascribed to
killings in France in years. Merah espoused a radical brand of Islam and had
been to the Afghanistan-Pakistan region twice and to the Pakistani militant
stronghold of Waziristan for training, Molins said. He said the suspect had
plans to kill another soldier, prompting the police raid.
The
standoff began after a police attempt at around 3 a.m. Wednesday to detain
Merah erupted into a firefight. Two police were wounded, triggering on-and-off
negotiations with the suspect that lasted into the night. As darkness fell,
police cut electricity and gas to the building, then quietly closed in to wait
out the suspect. Authorities were "counting on his great fatigue and
weakening," said Didier Martinez of the SGP police union, adding the siege
could go on for hours. Street lights were also cut, making Merah more visible
to officers with night vision goggles in case of an assault. The gunman's
brother and mother were detained early Wednesday. Molins said the 29-year-old
brother, Abdelkader, had been implicated in a 2007 network that sent militant
fighters to Iraq, but was never charged. The siege was part of France's biggest
manhunt since a wave of terrorist attacks in the 1990s by Algerian extremists.
The chase began after France's worst-ever school shooting Monday and two
previous attacks on paratroopers beginning March 11, killings that have
horrified the country and frozen campaigning for the French presidential
election next month. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has played up
nationalist themes in his bid for a second term, vowed to defend France.
"Terrorism will not be able to fracture our
national community," Sarkozy declared Wednesday on national television
before heading to funeral services for the two paratroopers killed and another
injured last week in Montauban, near Toulouse. The suspect repeatedly promised
to turn himself in, then halted negotiations. Cedric Delage, regional secretary
for a police union, said police were prepared to storm the building if he did
not surrender.
After bouts of deadly terrorist attacks in
France in the 1980s and 1990s, France beefed up its legal arsenal — now seen as
one of the most effective in Western Europe and a reference for countries
including the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks. Sarkozy's office said President
Barack Obama called him Wednesday to express condolences to the families of the
victims and praise French police for tracking down the suspect. The statement
said France and the United States are "more determined than ever to fight
terrorist barbarity together." In recent years, French counterterrorism
officials have focused mainly on al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the North
African affiliate of Osama bin Laden's network that has its roots in an
insurgent group in Algeria, a former French colony. Molins said Merah's first
trip to Afghanistan ended with him being picked up by Afghan police "who
turned him over to the American Army who put him on the first plane to
France." He said Merah bragged to authorities that he planned more attacks
inside France. "He had foreseen other killings, notably he foresaw another
attack this morning, targeting a soldier," Molins said, adding Merah also
planned to attack two police officers. "He claims to have always acted
alone." Merah has a long record as a juvenile delinquent with 15
convictions, Molins added. An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said Merah had been under surveillance for years for having
"fundamentalist" Islamic views. During the standoff, police evacuated
the five-story building, escorting residents out using the roof and fire truck
ladders. The suspect's apartment was on the ground floor of the postwar
building, locals said. French authorities said Merah threw a Colt .45 handgun
used in each of the three attacks out a window in exchange for a device to talk
to authorities, but had more weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant said other weapons had been found in his car. "The
main concern is to arrest him, and to arrest him in conditions by which we can
present him to judicial officials," Gueant added, explaining authorities
want to "take him alive ... It is imperative for us." Delage said a
key to tracking Merah was the powerful Yamaha motorcycle he reportedly used in
all three attacks — a dark gray one that had been stolen March 6. The frame was
painted white, the color witnesses saw in the school attack. According to
Delage, one of Merah's brothers went to a motorcycle sales outfit to ask how to
modify the GPS tracker, raising suspicions. The vendor then contacted police. The
shooter has proved to be a meticulous operator. At the site of the second
paratrooper killing, police found the clip for the gun used in all three
attacks — but no fingerprints or DNA on it.
Those slain at the Jewish school,
all of French-Israeli nationality, were buried in Israel on Wednesday as relatives
sobbed inconsolably. The bodies of Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, his sons Arieh, 5,
and Gabriel, 3, and 8-year-old Myriam Monsenego had been flown there earlier in
the day. At the funeral, Myriam's eldest brother, Avishai, in his 20s, wailed
and called to God to give his parents the strength "to endure the worst
trial that can be endured." Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
denounced the deadly shooting attack at the Jewish school and condemned the
link to Palestinian children. "It's time for criminals to stop using the
Palestinian cause to justify their terrorist actions," Fayyad said in a
statement. "The children of Palestine want nothing but dignified lives for
themselves and for all the children." Before he was killed last year, bin
Laden stressed the importance of focusing on the Palestinian cause. In what is
believed to be a draft letter to al-Qaida's top lieutenant, the al-Qaida leader
wrote about the need for the terror group's affiliates to tie their operations
to broad concern for Palestine instead of local grievances, according to
declassified documents obtained in last year's bin Laden raid that were
reviewed by the Washington Post.
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