Tel-Chai Nation

It turns out the gunman who murdered at least 4 people at a Jewish school in Toulouse was not only a Muslim, he even had ties to al Qaeda. From the Jerusalem Post:

300 French police had surrounded residential building since the early morning hours; French interior minister names suspect as Mohamed Merah, al-Qaida-affiliated man of Algerian descent who trained in Afghanistan.

The man suspected of shooting to death four people outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, France and of another three shooting deaths, was arrested after a standoff that began early Wednesday morning, France's BFM TV reported. It was unclear whether the man surrendered or was forcefully arrested by police.

About 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armor, had cordoned off an area surrounding a four-story house in a leafy suburb of the city of Toulouse where the 24-year-old Muslim man, identified as Mohamed Merah, was holed up on the ground floor.

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the gunman was a French citizen of Algerian origin who had been to Pakistan and Afghanistan and had carried out his killings in revenge for French military involvement abroad.

The French interior minister said Merah, who had been under surveillance since the attack on the first of the soldiers last week, wanted revenge "for the Palestinian children and he also wanted to attack the French army because of its foreign intervention." [...]

"We are certain that the man surrounded by police, and whose surrender is expected, is the one who committed this series of killings," Gueant told BFM television.

He said Merah had thrown a Colt 45 pistol out of a window of the block of flats in exchange for a "communication device" or mobile phone, but was still armed. Police evacuated the other residents at 11:00 a.m (1000 GMT). [...]

Police sources said they had conducted a controlled explosion of the suspect's car at around 9:00 a.m. after discovering it was loaded with weapons.

Merah's girlfriend and brother, who was also known to authorities as a radical Islamist, have also been arrested, officials said.

Suspect tracked down through IP address

Gueant said Merah had contacted the first soldier he attacked under the pretext of wanting to buy his motorcycle.


Investigators identified the IP address he used - that of his mother - because he was already under surveillance for radical Islamist beliefs.

"We knew, and that is why he was under surveillance, that he had traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan," the minister said. [...]

Sarkozy had been informed of the standoff early in the morning, officials said.

In Jerusalem, the victims from the Ozar Hatorah school were laid to rest on Wednesday morning. Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin said in his eulogy at the Givat Shaul cemetery that the attack was inspired by "wild animals with hatred in their hearts."

Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said on Tuesday that the gunman had filmed the killings in the school. He first wounded Rabbi Jonathan Sandler as he entered the school and then cornered eight-year-old Myriam Monsonego and shot her in the head, he said. He then returned outside and shot Sandler and his two children, who had rushed to his side, at point blank range.

Authorities believe that the gunman in the school shooting was the same person responsible for killing the seven people because the same Colt 45 handgun was used in all the attacks and in each case the gunman arrived on a Yamaha scooter with his face hidden by a motorcycle helmet.

Does this not tell that not just the Jewish community, much of the rest of France is in serious danger, and needs proper security monitoring? By all means, this should send a message warning what kind of danger will await even non-Jews tomorrow if proper security steps aren't taken.

Labels: Afghanistan, Africa, anti-semitism, Europe, France, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism, war on terror