School killings suspect in siege

POLICE have cornered a man believed to be the Toulouse school killer in a flat in a suburb of the city.

Three officers from the elite RAID squad were slightly wounded when shots were fired after they moved in around 3.00. Police have started negotiations to get the man to come out. He is not holding any hostages and was said to be speaking to officers through the door of the flat.

The 24-year-old man, from Toulouse and of Algerian origin and thought to be called Mohamed, has claimed he is part of Al Qaida and said he was acting "in revenge for Palestinian children".

On Monday three children and a teacher were killed at a Jewish school in the city. They are due to be buried in Jerusalem this morning.

Interior Minister Claude Guéant is on the scene at Rue du Sergent Vigné and said the suspect claimed to be mujahideen. He said he was "known" to the security services.

The Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur had been looking at him and others in connection with the killings of three paratroopers in two attacks in Toulouse and Montauban.

Guéant said the suspect had spent time in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2010 and 2011. Afghan authorities had alerted French police about him.

Police have arrested the man's brother after tracing him through his computer's IP address and an email used to set up the meeting with the first paratrooper killed, in Toulouse.

His mother has also been taken to the siege flat in a bid to get her to help in negotiations. However, she has so far refused, saying she has "no influence" on him.