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Toulouse killings arrest denied | |
(40 minutes later) | |
France's interior minister has denied reports that security forces have arrested the main suspect in the recent spate of shootings around Toulouse. | |
Claude Gueant said the arrest had not yet taken place. | |
BFM TV had reported that the suspect, named earlier as Mohammed Merah, 23, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, was detained inside a block of flats that has been under siege all morning. | |
Merah is suspected of killing three soldiers and four Jewish people. | |
The killings took place in and around Toulouse in three separate incidents. | |
Police surrounded Merah's block of flats after two officers were shot at when they tried to get into his flat. | |
Officials say he is heavily armed with a Kalashnikov high-velocity rifle, a mini-Uzi 9mm machine pistol, several handguns and possibly grenades. | |
Police are hunting for accomplices and have detained several members of his family. | |
His mother was taken to the scene in the hope that she could persuade him to surrender, but she told police that she had no influence over her son. | |
Negotiators have been talking to Merah all morning, but Mr Gueant, who is at the scene, said he appeared to have no particular demands. | |
The suspect has said he belonged to al-Qaeda and acted to "avenge Palestinian children". | The suspect has said he belonged to al-Qaeda and acted to "avenge Palestinian children". |
He had apparently spent time in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he was jailed for three years for planting bombs. | He had apparently spent time in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he was jailed for three years for planting bombs. |
The prison director in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Gulam Farooq, told the BBC that Merah was arrested in 2007, but escaped in a Taliban-led break-out in 2008. | The prison director in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Gulam Farooq, told the BBC that Merah was arrested in 2007, but escaped in a Taliban-led break-out in 2008. |
President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived in Toulouse and is expected to speak to the media shortly. | |
In an earlier televised address, he paid tribute to the security forces who are carrying out the operation and said terrorism "will never be able to fracture our national community". |