A Muslim leader in Toulouse, France says the family of a gunman accused of killing seven people there has been denied permission to bury him in his native Algeria.

The Associated Press quotes Abdallah Zekri as saying the request to bury 23-year-old Mohamed Merah in Algeria was rejected for “reasons of public order”.

Zekri says Merah's family has asked him to arrange Merah's burial in the Muslim section of Toulouse cemetery.

Merah was killed in a barrage of police gunfire, as he leaped from the balcony of his Toulouse apartment one week ago, after a 32-hour stand off.

He admitted to killing three soldiers, three Jewish school children and a teacher.