A major police operation is underway in Toulouse as hundreds of officers surround an apartment in an eastern suburb of the city. It's understood one gunman remains in the building another man handed himself over to police in the early hours of the morning. It's also thought that he was one of a number of suspects police identified after the first two killings in Toulouse, inevitably questions are now being asked as to why he wasn't picked up before three children and a teacher were murdered outside a Jewish school in the city on Monday. Interior Minister Gueant said the suspect Mohammed Merahis a French national of Algerian origin who spent considerable time in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Guant said "He claims to be a jihadist and says he belongs to al Qaeda. He wanted to avenge the Palestinian children and take revenge on the French army because of its foreign interventions," he told reporters at the scene. The suspect reportedly belongs to a little-known group called Forsane Alizza, or Knights of Glory, which the French government banned in January for trying to recruit people to fight in Afghanistan. French Interior Minister Claude Gueant also said the man, had made several visits to Afghanistan, was acting out of revenge for France's military involvement in the country.
The French elite anti-terror squad have been called to the scene and it's understood negotiations are ongoing. The suspect apparently has said he will surrender himself to the authorities this afternoon.
EU-Digest
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