French Police Raid House to Arrest Jewish School Shooting Suspect

Posted March 20th, 2012 at 11:50 pm (UTC-5)
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French police have raided a house in Toulouse where a suspect in Monday's deadly Jewish school shooting was believed to be holed up.

Police say two officers were wounded in the raid. French news reports say the suspect is an Islamic militant. No details are known and it is unclear if anyone has been captured.

Authorities spent Tuesday on a nationwide manhunt for the gunman who murdered three young children and a rabbi at the Jewish school in Toulouse before driving off on a motorcycle.

All four were shot in the head in a cold-blooded attack that has stunned and outraged France and condemned by world leaders.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon attended a brief memorial service at a Paris airport before the bodies of the victims were flown to Israel. They will be buried Wednesday.

Schools across France held a moment of silence Tuesday.

Mr. Sarkozy said the anti-Semitic nature of the murders is obvious. He along with Socialist Francois Hollande and right-winger Marie Le Pen have have suspended their presidential election campaigns out of respect for the victims.

French police say the shooter used the same gun to kill three French soldiers of African and French Caribbean origin last week in Toulouse and a nearby town.