France shooting suspect killed in police raid

TOULOUSE, France: Mohamed Merah, the man who allegedly killed seven people in three recent attacks, was shot and killed by police forces as they raided his apartment, where he had been under siege for more than a day.

Mr. Merah's death ended a dramatic 33-hour long siege of his Toulouse apartment, in which he had barricaded himself, that has gripped France.

A 23-year-old French citizen of Algerian descent, Mr. Merah is suspected of killing four people at a Jewish school Monday, and fatally shooting three soldiers the previous week.

Police had Mr. Merah's building surrounded since 3. am local time Wednesday morning, when they first tried to force their way into his apartment before being rebuffed in a volley of gunfire. In the long hours since, they made repeated attempts to rattle Mr. Merah with a series of loud blasts at his building and insisted their top priority was to take the man, who claimed responsibility for the attacks in talks with his police negotiators on Wednesday, alive and bring him to justice.

French Interior Minister Claude Guéant said the suspect had warned police that he would not surrender and wanted to die in combat, prompting authorities' decision to try to apprehend him by storming his apartment. Police first threw grenades into the apartment, as they had done during the night, but this elicited no reaction, said Mr. Guéant.