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Subscribe to RSSA man claiming to be a member of al-Qaida is holding several people hostage in a bank in Toulouse, France. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
Updated at 11:06 ET: TOULOUSE, France -- Armed police have captured alive a man who took four hostages in a bank in the southwestern French city of Toulouse on Wednesday, officials said.
His captives, who included the bank's manager, were released after an ordeal lasting several hours, police said.
The man, who had claimed to be a member of al-Qaida, attacked the CIC branch at about 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET) and fired a shot after an attempted armed robbery apparently went wrong, police said.
He was lightly injured during his arrest, which came at around 4:00 p.m. local time (11:00 a.m. ET) and followed a series of gunshots that were heard at the scene.
Unidentified authorities told the Associated Press the gunman had psychiatric problems in the past and claimed he was acting for religious reasons.
In March, 23-year-old Mohamed Merah - an al-Qaida-inspired gunman - shot dead three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in the same city.
Earlier, French television news channel BFM said the hostage-taker had demanded the presence of RAID, the national elite police unit that had to take down Merah in a shootout at his apartment.
Prosecutor: All French shooting victims shot in the head at close range
Bruno Martin / AP
Elite police officers from the GIPN brigade arrive at a bank in Toulouse, France, where a man took hostages and fired a shot.
Officials at the French Interior Ministry and CIC bank declined to comment.
Reuters and NBC News contributed to this report.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more details.
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But we are a peaceful people......... yeah right! as long as you are another Muslim but if you are a christian or of some other belief, look out! All that understanding is gone.
Actually these guys kill each other all the time. Example Sunni-Shia(Shiites) are fighting all over the Middle East.
The moment this guy used the al-Qaida card authorities should have moved in with a vengeance. Terrorists acts of any kind REGARDLESS..... Needs to be dealt with, with swift justice. They ( al-Qaida ) wouldn't buy you breakfast.
I wouldn't either. The Waffle House on Ina is too expensive.
Maybe half a breakfast burrito at Nicos?
The worst that will happen to him, this is france remember, is they will serve him day old Croissants and make sure his cell is not offensive to him (culturally speaking)
I would be worried that he requested the RAID team appear - watch for a bomb or attack to happen once they get there - he may blow himself up just to get back at the ones who killed his buddy - such a peacfull religion - and don;t start bahing Christians and their crusades hundreds of years ago - when was the last time a Christian backed movement was killing scores of humans? There may be the occaisional radical but it's not their doctrine today
there is one cure for all this Muslim madness.. wait till all the clerics and violent al-qaida are in mecca during the month of Ramadan and nuke the city turn it into glass BOOM!! then carpet bomb the whole middle east and then pull out problem solved!! i say waste em all and let god sort them out
Sounds like a nut. I doubt hes Al Queda, or even an actual Muslim.
I was thinking the same thing. He mentioned al-Qaida to buy him some time.
He figures once they hear that, then they would think of him executing all his hostages or doing more vicious things to them than some regular bank robber.
Back during the Gulf War, France would have nothing to do with being our allies and shunned the USA.
"NOW" maybe they're getting a little taste of the real deal if the guy is in fact telling the truth.
Newest line is he did it for religious reasons and he has a psych history. Sounds like AK ingredients to me
The ironic twist is that the liberal progressives who espouse diversity and multi-culturalism are the first one the muslims are coming after once they get a solid foothold. Coexist, smoke a little dope, it will all be fine.
I can see it now, Mr Moore, the fat a__ed film directer getting all excited and saying "he (The rubber) was beating bloody by the officers who did not let him get away for following his religion" Way to go France!
The rubber? Didn't know Muslims used condoms. Thought they were more like the Catholics, use religion to over populate the world.
In France, large swaths of Muslim neighborhoods are now considered "no-go" zones by French police. At last count, there are 751 Sensitive Urban Zones (Zones Urbaines Sensibles, ZUS), as they are euphemistically called. A complete list of the ZUS can be found on a French government website, complete with satellite maps and precise street demarcations. An estimated 5 million Muslims live in the ZUS, parts of France over which the French state has lost control.
Muslim immigrants are taking control of other parts of France too. In Paris and other French cities with high Muslim populations, such as Lyons, Marseilles and Toulouse, thousands of Muslims are closing off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, are closing down local businesses and trapping non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for Friday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of "Allahu Akbar" via loudspeakers into the streets.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2367/european-muslim-no-go-zones
"Unidentified authorities told the Associated Press the gunman had psychiatric problems in the past and claimed he was acting for religious reasons."
'psychiatric problems'?
Don't each and every one of these POS terrorists are diagnosed with this...
Do you know why they are murdering men, women and children? I certainly have no clue, really.
They are following a cult not a religion to make it perfectly clear.
Lots of problems around the city of Toulouse
I have family that live in France. I visit often and can tell you all that there are too many Muslim-Arabs. This tip of the scale is only good if there is respect for the new adopted country they live in, but that is not the case. They took advantage of a liberal system that treated everyone humanely and trashed it. It's time for France to remove the "welcome sign" and not be so inviting to Arabs. If the Muslim-Arab culture is so wonderful why not stay in your own *&^%$#@ country? This is the only population of people that has caused such a problem. All the other immigrants in France from Africa, Germany, Spain, United States etc. etc. are respectful.
Yes, sort of a guilt trip that comes on because of having colonized them in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. so the pay back entitlement and screaming racism as soon as something goes on, and there is true racism also, from both sides, which complicates things further. Same as in America where Blacks do the same because of slavery. Guilt, the gift that keeps on giving.....maybe in a few hundred years it will be over.