The suspect is not a neo-Nazi as earlier reported. He claims to be a member of Al Qaeda and is holed in suburb of Toulouse called Magnay. He is reportedly of Algerian descent.
There was a shootout earlier today at the suspect’s home.
The AP reported:
A predawn police raid on a home in Toulouse erupted into a firefight Wednesday with a gunman who claims connections to al-Qaida and is suspected of killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers.
The man has thrown his handgun out a window but has other weapons on him, including an AK-47 machine gun, and has used them in volleys with police surrounding the building in this southwestern city, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said.
Three policemen have been wounded in the operation, which is still ongoing, Gueant said. The suspect’s brother has been arrested.
Gueant said the suspect is talking to a police negotiator and says he’ll surrender in the afternoon. The minister says police want to take him alive.
The suspect is 24 years old, of French nationality and says “he belongs to al-Qaida,” Gueant told reporters. He said the suspect “wants to take revenge for Palestinian children” killed in the Middle East, and is angry at the French military for its operations abroad.
