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Caroline Blumberg / EPA
French police investigators on Thursday analyze the scene outside the building where a 32-hour long standoff with gunman Mohamed Merah, took place in Toulouse, France.
TOULOUSE, France -- French police are examining video equipment and explosives recovered from Islamist extremist Mohamed Merah’s apartment to determine if the suspect in the killing of three children and four adults had any accomplices.
Merah, 23, died Thursday as he scrambled out of a ground-floor window during a gunbattle with elite police commandos. A police sniper shot him in the head, ending a 32-hour standoff at his Toulouse apartment, police said.
In contact with authorities during the standoff, he admitted that in three attacks he killed three Jewish children, a rabbi and three French paratroopers, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.
France 2 via AP
Mohamed Merah, the suspect in the killing of 3 paratroopers, 3 children and a rabbi in France.
"A killer wanted, according to his own words, to bring France to its knees by sowing hatred and terror. He has been neutralized," President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is running for re-election next month, told a campaign rally in the eastern city of Strasbourg.
In a TV address, Sarkozy announced an investigation into whether Merah had accomplices and the possibilities of Islamist indoctrination practices in prison.
"Our Muslim compatriots have nothing to do with the crazy actions of a terrorist," Sarkozy said. "We should not embark on any stigmatization."
Jewish school slayings suspect dies in raid, officials say
Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, was on a "no fly" list maintained by U.S. authorities, two American officials told The Associated Press. The officials would not disclose precisely when Merah was placed on the U.S. watch list.
U.S. and French authorities said Merah had traveled to Afghanistan around 2010 to obtain training from Islamic militants. He had spent time with militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border before being captured and returned to France.
At some point after his capture, two other U.S. officials said, Merah was held in custody by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Precise details of how and when this occurred and what happened to him next are still unclear.
In Toulouse, police recovered a bag containing a GoPro video camera that Merah had used round his neck to film the killings.
Email trail led cops to suspect in Jewish school slayings
Islamic extremist Mohamed Merah, who bragged about killing seven people to punish France, jumped from a window after a French SWAT team burst into the apartment where he had been cornered for more than a day. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Molins indicated Merah posted clips online. Molins described videos recovered from Merah's apartment showing the attacks, the BBC reported.
"These films are extremely explicit, as we were able to verify yesterday, in which evidently we see him during his encounter with a soldier who he shot twice, saying to him: 'You kill my brothers, I kill you'," Molins said. "Then we also see him killing the soldiers in Montauban in an extremely violent scene, fleeing on his scooter whilst shouting 'Allahu akbar' [God is great]."
Road to Mohamed Merah's radicalization goes through Afghanistan
The videos and recordings of all of Merah's conversations with negotiators during the siege will be used in a forthcoming inquiry, Molins said.
Pascal Pavani / AFP - Getty Images
Forensics officers Thursday investigate the building where self-professed al-Qaida militant Mohamed Merah, 23, was living on the first floor (window at far-right) in Toulouse, southwestern France.
A militant Islamist group called Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate) claimed responsibility for Merah's killings, according to a statement posted on an internet forum used by Islamists. It named the assailant as Yousef al-Ferensi and said his attack "shook the foundations of the Zio-Crusaderdom."
In Israel, tears and defiance at French shooting victims' burial
"Israel's crimes against our people in the blessed land of Palestine, especially in Gaza, will not go unpunished," said the group, which was previously unknown until it took credit in November for two explosions in a western Khazakh oil city.
The interior ministry declined to comment specifically on the statement but said there was no evidence Merah belonged formally to any group.
During the standoff, authorities said, Merah had told negotiators that he was trained by al-Qaida in Pakistan and killed three paratroopers last week and four people at a Jewish school on Monday to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and because of French army involvement in Afghanistan.
This article includes reporting by Reuters, The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff.
The alleged gunman in a series of deadly shootings in France, including one at a Jewish school near Toulouse, is dead after jumping from the apartment where he was hold up for 32 hours. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.
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Leave a Comment:
when you bury him sew him up inside of a pig skin
Its a shame they didnt take this POS alive - what happened to stun grenades or sleeping gas? Would be nice if he could be waterboarded and interrogated, instead they granted him his deathwish. Also, kinda ironic this little skumbag was packing an Uzi and seems to enjoy western cars, oh wait, arabs dont make or invent anything, just blow stuff up..
Sgt. Robert Bales killed more people and more woman and children... Do all of these nasty comments apply to him, too?
It seems like we should be against terrorism and extremism in any group...
I agree!
But the Saudis, oil companies and their cheap agents in the US, France, Britain and other places look at Islamic terrorism with one eyes closed.
They became blind to who were responsible for 9/11. But attacked Iraq in 2003!
Now Saudis are again directing the dances on Syria and Iran.
So John McCains, Netahyahos, Jewish lobby in the US, Britain, France, Germany and many others are screaming: In Syria, innocent children and women are being killed.
Iran has WMDs.
They are not about bothered about WMDs of Pakistan or Saudis promoting and financing their extremists Sunni version of Salaffi and Wahhabi all over the world!
They don't care about the fate of poor soldiers in Afghanistan due to simple Quran burning or Sgt Bales shooting some civilians!
It is all oil, oil monies and profits to share!
Greg-2086673
Sergent Bales is getting his rounds of criticism, and is chrarged with 17 counts of murder.
There is a difference. Seargent Bales doesn't answer to a book that says to kill maim or plunder unbelievers. seargent Bales acted on his own, under the stress of seeing a comrade have his leg blown off by yet another attack from civilian proximity. Still, he acted against the will of the people and doctrine he represents. He allowed the contagious poison of hatred to overcome his humanity, and killed 17 innocents.
Mohamed was obeying the belligerent imperatives of his prophet Mohammad. These are clearly stated and the translations can be read by anyone. If Islam is practiced as it is was written, then unbelievers need to get used to Terrorism because it isn't going to stop. This is nothing new, Islamic terrorism predates Isreal by 1400 years. The expicite expression of terrorism is only denied by westernized Muslim appologists who struggle to make sense of the belicose nature of the Koran and Hadith. If you are a believer, you are supposed to be protected from the polemics condemnation terrorism and subjugation.
1291 years ago Charles Martel, the Frank king, stopped an army of invading Muslims near Toulouse in France, and saved Europe from becoming another Afghanistan. Who will save it now?
The bullet in his head is small recompense for the bullet he put in the little 8-year-old's head, but it's better than nothing.
Agreed wtf. This was a rather sterile statement, as well, considering what this defective psychotic has done.
Very interesting comment about him being captured by US Forces along the Afghan-Pakistan border. If it turns out that he was returned to France and then the French government let him loose to do this, there is no way that Sarkozy wins re-election.
He was turned over to US forces, but other forces captured him.
"A killer wanted, according to his own words, to bring France to its knees by sowing hatred and terror. He has been neutralized," President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Welcome to the mad world of Sunni Saudi barbaric and beastly rulers, oil companies and their cheap agents!
Sarkozy, Cameron, Markel and many US cheap politicians like Bushes, McCains and others look other way when their pals' Saudi al-Qaida are involved!
Pakistan needs more aids to promote moderate elements.
Russia and China need to be straightened though Russia has offered base for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
This Mohamad gets a better treatment than Sgt Bales.
Just like Saddam, now all worlds' problems are due to Assad and Ayotollahs!
Unusually, mad Netanyaho is quiet!
Why do they still use the term is l ami c extremist? There is nothing extreme about following what the q uran tells them to do - to the letter, not out of context, not misinterpreted, but to the letter...
Call a spade a spade.
Working alone? Come on. Pyscho Muslim terrorists all over the world were with him in spirit or guiding him.Abbas said he was a coward and monster and using the Palestine cause as an excuse was a horror. Abbas should know as he has to face hamas who threw their co governors out the window.What a horror story is this demon who murdered these children.The nazis were hung or died in their bunkers for the same thing.Now this equally brutal fiend joins them!
This was an atrocity by any definition, but differs little from the actions of the deranged ''financially troubled'' Sgt. Robert Bales, charged with indiscriminately slaughtering 17 sleeping Afghan women and children in their own homes. Many attempt to ''whitewash'' his actions with all manner of excuses.
Kudos to the French police for ending this affair as they did. Interestingly, the French soldiers were targeted because of Sarkozy's involvement in Afghanistan ;however, many Americans (inc. Congressmen) were quick to condemn the French when they shunned France's involvement in Iraq at the dawn of the Bush/Cheney War even going so far as to rename so-called ''french fries'' Freedom fries.
Actually it differs in almost every way except the atrocity part. What Bales did was after extended combat exposure, his 4th tour in fact. What he did was snap in a hostile enviroment. He is there trying to help the Afghan people and kill terrorists yet a large portion of those he is attempting to help despise him and his presence in Afghanistan. He was also subject to Financial and other pressures that drove over the brink. Also what he did had nothing to do with religion, either his or theirs.
In contrast what this freak did was motivated by only terrorism and his religious zeal. He was not subject to extreme living conditions, financial hardship, continued ill-will and disdain by those he is attempting to help or protect. He was not exposed to prolonged combat conditions. He in fact specifically sought out terror training and combat training for the express purpose of terrorism and acting on his religious ideals. These two cases could not possibly be further apart!
Mohammed Merah's brother aided and abetted him (Abduljabar)-he is the one who went to the automeachanic and asked if the white scooter Yamaha TMX could be repainted black and 'how to neutralize the GPS built-in. The French woman neighbour whose 15 yr old son Merah tried to persuade to join jihad overseas and showing him gory videos of women kiilled and people decapitated- she twice filed a police report-to no avail. French police should comb internet cafes where Merah might have visited jihadist sites -he videotaped his killings with a Go Pro video camera (like Andreas B.Breivik)- he acted in cold blood like other massmurderers to get his 15 minutes of fame. Asocial-no conscience. How many other jihadist wannabes did US forces in Afgh/Iraq send back to their countries w/o informing other g'ments of them?
I believe the US informed France about this man. France was watching him, and his brother. Governments need to do more than just watch them. For the sake of national security, they need to search their homes and their cars. They should not slack off from these type of idiots.
Comment # 8 deleted for promoting genocide.
Ternan, you are suspended for a week for violating rule # 5 of the Code of Honor.
Put his head in a box and send it to the terrorists....then defile his dead corpse for the whole nation to see!!!!
I am waiting to find out if ACLU and CAIR are still opposed to NYPD monitoring radical Muslim youth. Actually people who are not blinded by maddening ideology, decent Muslims included, should appreciate an intelligent but restrained monitoring of possible Jehadists, because every time one of those supposedly lone wolves commit a heinous crime all Muslims are tarnished. This is not guilt by association, it's learning from experience which common sense dictates.
CC, in the United States we have this thing called a "Constitution." In this document, there are several amendments that protect civil liberties. Now, these organizations may seem to you to be evil and horrible for standing up in defense of those liberties, but these are very important things to defend.
Toast.., and we also have something that is called a brain and the wise Egyptians have this proverb, study it you may learn something
اللي يتلسع من الشوربة ينفخ في الزبادي. (illi yetlesse3 min iš-šorba yinfox fiz-zabaadi.)
He who burns his tongue from soup will blow in yogurt (to cool it). (Once burned, twice shy.)
I'm just saying that I don't necessarily expect someone from Egypt to immediately appreciate the value of civil liberties. Not with their country's history. Things are very different here, and they are different for a very important reason.
In fact, because the Christian minority in Egypt lived through continuous persecution by the Muslim majority for centuries, I do appreciate civil liberty more than many in the West.
America is my country now and I do appreciate its great constitution. But Coptic Christians living in America are in a loose-loose situation, in Egypt we are persecuted because we are Christians, in America we are under a cloud of suspicion because we are from the Middle East. I don't want another terrorist attack in America, not only because of the tragedy of killing innocent people, but also because as a Middle Eastern I may be targeted just because of the way I look.
Do you know that one of the victims who were killed in retaliation after 9/11 attack was a Coptic Christian who own a store in Los Angeles "Adel Karas, 48, a grocer from Egypt and a Coptic Christian, who was killed Sept. 15, 2001 in his San Gabriel, California store." This line is buried half way through the attached article
Most likely you did not hear about him because CAIR would not care to publicize and exploit this tragedy, because he is not a Muslim.
http://www.themediaoasis.com/hatevictims.html
Toast.., if you read through my posting, there is a Typo, "loose-loose" should be corrected to "lose-lose", but I guess you know what I mean. If there is any other Typos, ignore them, English was not my first language.
aNOTHER nut!
ACLU and CAIR are just as bad as Muslims. They all are part of the Devils crew doing the devils work!
I know. What evil people they must be to stand up in defense of the Bill of Rights...
I guess no one is going to mention the fact that they said he died from a shot to the head in the beginning of the artice, then at the end it says that he died from jumping out of the window.
if he had been neutralized when he was captured in afghanistan in 2010 7 people would have been alive today