It's all here. The who, what, where, when and the most important, why. Although even these sources will not point directly to Islam as the culprit, I know my readers understand the context with which this attack occurred. For your edification are four articles from across the globe detailing this latest in the continuing series of jihad across the world.
From France24 March 21
In an unfolding drama that has riveted France, about 300 police, some in body armour, cordoned off a five-storey building in a suburb of Toulouse where the 24-year-old Muslim shooter, identified as Mohamed Merah, is holed up.
Authorities said the gunman, a French citizen of Algerian origin, had been to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he claimed to have received training from al Qaeda.
Merah told police negotiators he had killed three French soldiers last week and four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and because of the French army’s involvement in Afghanistan.
“He has no regrets, except not having more time to kill more people and he boasts that he has brought France to its knees,” Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins, part of the anti-terrorist unit leading the investigation, told a news conference.
The gunman, who filmed his killings with a small camera, had already identified another soldier and two police officers he wished to kill, Molins said. The gunman had repeated promises to surrender this evening to members of the elite RAID unit surrounding the house, which had been evacuated of its other residents.
“He has explained that he is not suicidal, that he does not have the soul of a martyr and that he prefers to kill but to stay alive himself,” Molins said.
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From The Jerusalem Post March 21
Toulouse suspect holed up in house, says he'll surrender
Nicole Yardeni, regional Jewish community leader from the French Jewish association, CRIF, said she met Mr Sarkozy earlier today, who relayed the news.
From France24 March 21
Toulouse siege gunman 'planned another attack'
REUTERS - A besieged gunman suspected of shooting dead seven people in the name of al Qaeda boasted to police on Wednesday he had brought France to its knees and said his only regret was not having been able to carry out his plans for more killings.In an unfolding drama that has riveted France, about 300 police, some in body armour, cordoned off a five-storey building in a suburb of Toulouse where the 24-year-old Muslim shooter, identified as Mohamed Merah, is holed up.
Authorities said the gunman, a French citizen of Algerian origin, had been to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he claimed to have received training from al Qaeda.
Merah told police negotiators he had killed three French soldiers last week and four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and because of the French army’s involvement in Afghanistan.
“He has no regrets, except not having more time to kill more people and he boasts that he has brought France to its knees,” Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins, part of the anti-terrorist unit leading the investigation, told a news conference.
The gunman, who filmed his killings with a small camera, had already identified another soldier and two police officers he wished to kill, Molins said. The gunman had repeated promises to surrender this evening to members of the elite RAID unit surrounding the house, which had been evacuated of its other residents.
“He has explained that he is not suicidal, that he does not have the soul of a martyr and that he prefers to kill but to stay alive himself,” Molins said.
There is more...
From The Jerusalem Post March 21
Toulouse suspect holed up in house, says he'll surrender
TOULOUSE - A gunman suspected of killing seven people in the name of al-Qaida, including three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, said on Wednesday he would hand himself over to police to end an hours-long siege in the southwestern French city.
About 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armor, 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.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, running for re-election in five weeks time, said France should not give way to discrimination or vengeance after the shootings of a rabbi and the three children, and three soldiers of North African origin.
His warning came after far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a rival presidential candidate, said France should wage war on Islamic fundamentalism.
"I have brought the Jewish and Muslim communities together to show that terrorism will not manage to break our nation's feeling of community," Sarkozy said after meeting community leaders. "We must stand together. We must not cede to discrimination or vengeance."
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."
He told journalists Merah was a member of an ideological Islamic group in France but this organization was not involved in plotting any violence.
There is more...
From the Independent March 21 by Ruth Sherlock
Toulouse Standoff: Shooter planned to kill again
THE self-proclaimed al-Qaeda jihadist gunmen Mohammed Merah suspected of running a spate of killing in Toulouse was "getting ready to kill again this morning," according to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.Nicole Yardeni, regional Jewish community leader from the French Jewish association, CRIF, said she met Mr Sarkozy earlier today, who relayed the news.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio, she said: "He told me he had a plan to kill again. He had been planning to kill again this morning."
French police conducted a 3am raid on the building housing the French citizen of Algerian origin accused of France's worst school shooting on Monday and two previous attacks on French paratroopers.
It is understood Merah has told police he will hand himself in late this evening.
The standoff has continued for more than 12 hours after the gunman shot back wounding two police officers. Hundreds of men, including commandos from the elite RAID unit surrounded the four-story building fearing the gunmen might possess explosives and blow up the building should they try enter.
Police evacuated frightened residents of the building, helping them escape from the rooftop using fire truck ladders.
Claude Guéant, the French interior minister denied on Wednesday afternoon earlier media reports that the self-proclaimed 24 year-old al Qaeda supporter had been arrested.
"The negotiations continue. They are still under way," he said in a call to AFP after French TV aired claims the 23-year-old suspect in seven killings had been taken into custody by police special forces surrounding his flat.
Speaking to police negotiators he said his actions were done to seek revenge for Palestinian children and French military postings overseas. The Islamist is also believed to have told a journalist that he was motivated by France's ban on wearing the Burka. Ebba Kalondo, the deputy head of the channel'sAfrica service, says Merah wanted to "take revenge on the law against the full Islamic veil (in France) " Kalondo said.
As the standoff continued police ran sweeping searches of the homes of Merah's mother, brother and brother's companion. All the were detained for questioning. Police brought Merah's mother the scene of the siege, hoping she could talk her son to surrender but she refused, saying she had "little control" over her son.
It became increasingly apparent that the spate of terror attacks were a family affair when explosives were found Merah's brother's car.
Mr Gueant said the suspect's brother "is also engaged in the Salafi ideology," a reference to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.
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From the BBC March 21
Toulouse siege enters second day
The police siege of a building in Toulouse where a man suspected of killing seven people is holed up has entered a second day.
Late on Wednesday gunfire and at least one explosion were heard at the block of flats in north of the city.
Earlier, three more blasts were heard, accompanied by flashes of orange light.
Mohammed Merah, 23, is suspected of killing four people at a Jewish school last Monday and three soldiers in two attacks last week.
The earlier blasts sent shockwaves around the quiet residential streets around the building, reports the BBC's Christian Fraser in Toulouse.
After the first explosions, deputy mayor Jean-Pierre Havrin told local media that "negotiations have finished and the assault has begun".
However, sources from the French interior ministry have since been quoted as saying said this was beginning of an operation to put pressure on Merah.
"They [the blasts] were moves to intimidate the gunman who seems to have changed his mind and does not want to surrender," interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told Reuters.
Police had been negotiating with Merah but had not convinced him to surrender.
Police surrounded Merah's block after two officers were shot at when they tried to get into his flat early on Wednesday morning.
Officials say he is heavily armed with a Kalashnikov high-velocity rifle, a mini-Uzi 9mm machine pistol, several handguns and possibly grenades.
Street lights had been switched off in the vicinity of the building on Wednesday evening.
The five-storey block of flats has been evacuated, and police also moved residents from nearby buildings.
Elsewhere in the city, police are hunting for accomplices and have detained several members of Merah's family.
His mother was taken to the scene on Wednesday in the hope that she could persuade him to surrender, but she told police that she had no influence over her son.
Anti-terror chief Francois Molins said on Wednesday that Merah planned to kill again.
"If he's telling the truth, he would have left his house this morning and he would have once again killed any soldier that he came across," he said.
Mr Molins said the suspect had expressed no regret for the killings, but had said he wanted to kill more people and "bring France to its knees".
Merah has said he acted to "avenge Palestinian children" and said he would give himself up.
Merah claimed to have received al-Qaeda training in Pakistan's Waziristan area, and also said he had been to Afghanistan.
His activities in Afghanistan are still unclear.
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