French Police Corner Shootings Suspect

French police were trying Wednesday to negotiate the surrender of a suspected Islamist militant holed up in a flat after shootings that left seven dead, including three Jewish children.

Published

about 1 year ago

Categories

World, Europe

Topics

Terrorism, Europe

People

Claude Guéant, Mohammed Merah

Places

France, Toulouse

Tags

french interior minister, al qaeda, shooting, school shooting, jewish school, jewish school shooting

Transcript

SCRIPT: <br></br><br></br>It was around three o'clock in the morning when French special forces were called in. <br></br><br></br>They surrounded this building in a residential neighbourhood of Toulouse in southwestern France. <br></br><br></br>Inside, the man thought to be behind the killings of seven people in the local area, including three children. <br></br><br></br>A 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian origins named Mohammed Merah. <br></br><br></br>SOUNDBITE, Claude Guéant, French Interior Minister (French, 23 sec): <br></br>"He claims to be a mujahidin, to belong to Al Qaeda and to have wanted to avenge Palestinian children and to take action against the French army after their interventions abroad." <br></br><br></br>A brief exchange of gunfire saw three police officers slightly injured. <br></br><br></br>Now, a tense siege as negotiations for his surrender go on. The police are determined to bring him in alive. <br></br><br></br>SOUNDBITE, Olivier Christen, Anti-Terrorist Unit, Paris Public Prosecutor's Office (French, 20 sec): <br></br>"The objective, as the Interior Minister has said, is obviously to question the man who appears today to be the principal suspect, with a view to detaining him and determining what made him carry out the acts which he is currently suspected of." <br></br><br></br>It's the final scene of a huge manhunt for France, after the latest killing of three children at a Jewish school. <br></br><br></br>The suspect has said he'll surrender later in the day -- but with a Kalashnikov and a machine pistol thought to be in the apartment, no one will be taking any chances. <br></br><br></br><br></br>SHOTLIST <br></br>SOURCE: AFPTV <br></br><br></br>-GVs NIGHT police vehicles surrounding apartment building <br></br>-SOUNDBITE <br></br>-GVs police officers outside building, day <br></br>-SOUNDBITE <br></br>-GVs Jewish school with police investigators