Photo Gallery Suspected French Terrorist Killed in Raid
Police raided the apartment of the suspected killer of seven on Thursday morning after a 30-hour standoff. Reuters reported that gunfire rang out for four minutes and explosions were heard during the raid. Mohamed Merah said he wanted to die with a gun in his hand -- and he did.
French Interior Minister Claude Guéant confirmed the death around noon on Thursday. Guént announced that Merah was dead and thanked the RAID special police force for "an extremely difficult mission."
Mohammed Merah claimed responsibility for the killing of three soldiers last week, as well as four other people, including three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday.
At the start of the police deployment, the man fired at police with automatic weapons he had been storing in his apartment.
Two policemen were injured by gunfire during the operation.
Police say the suspect admitted to them by phone that he had been planning a further attack on Wednesday against a soldier, and that he also wanted to kill two police officers.
Paramedics at the scene treated the two injured policemen.
The street where Merah lived was cordoned off during the police operation. The suspect had agreed to give himself up several times but ultimately did not live up to his word.
In his talks with police, the man reportedly expressed regret over not having killed more people, Chief French Prosecutor François Molins told reporters, and that he had prided himself on bringing the country to its knees.
Police cut off the electricity and gas supply to the suspect's home.
Molins defended the deadly police deployment on Thursday. He said the decision to raid was a legitimate act of self-defense and that everything possible had been done to try to capture Merah alive.
The aim had been to keep the suspect alive, but Interior Minister Guéant said officers had recognized the extreme danger Merah posed and they decided to raid. Here, the chief Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, speaks to journalists after the siege.
