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French police stand near a building in Toulouse where the suspect was said to be holed up. Bob Edme/AP/Press Association Images
France
Updated: Police prepare to storm building where shooting suspect holed-up
Earlier reports that the man named as Mohammed Merah had been arrested could not be confirmed by officials.
FRENCH POLICE WERE preparing to storm an apartment building in Toulouse to arrest a holed-up gunman who is suspected in seven killings and claiming allegiance to Al Qaeda, a top police official said.
Earlier reports said that authorities had arrested the man suspected of carrying out a spate of killings in the southern French city of Toulouse.
However the interior ministry has denied the earlier report by BFM TV that the suspect, who has been named as Mohammed Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, was arrested inside a block of flats that had been under siege this morning.
Merah is accused of attacking a Jewish school and shooting dead four people including three children. He is also accused of carrying out two attacks on French soldiers in the area.
In total, seven people died in the attacks.
More to follow…
- additional reporting from AP
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