Epress.am News from Armenia
French police surrounded a house Wednesday where a man suspected of a series of deadly shootings was holed up, claiming he had carried out the attacks to avenge Palestinian children, AFP reports.
Two officers were wounded as shots rang out in the ongoing operation to arrest the suspect, thought to be a French national of North African origin who declared that he was a member of the Al-Qaeda network, officials said.
Armed officers investigating three recent attacks in which a scooter-riding serial killer gunned down seven people in cold blood, including three Jewish children, sealed off an address in the Cote Pavee residential district of the southern city of Toulouse.
French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the 24-year-old suspect had spoken to officers through his door, and had declared himself to be a “mujaheedeen” or Islamic warrior fighting to avenge Palestinian children killed in the conflict with Israel.
The victims of the attacks were three soldiers, three Jewish children and a rabbi and the police raid came on the day that they were to be buried.
The minister confirmed two officers had been lightly wounded in the raid, during which the suspect had shot through a door.
“The suspect’s mother was brought to the scene. She was asked to make contact with her son, to reason with him, but she did not want to, saying she had little influence on him,” Gueant said.
If the suspect is proved to have been responsible for the killings, it would bring to an end one of the most intense manhunts in French history and help calm tensions after the series of attacks disrupted a presidential election.
Both Sarkozy and Hollande temporarily suspended their campaigns following Monday’s attack, as France was traumatised by an unprecedented series of hate crimes. The first round of the vote is due on April 22, with a run-off on May 6.