France’s interior minister has launched a robust defence of the police as criticism grows of the operation that ended in the dramatic death of a gunman who killed seven people, three of them children.
Already under pressure over accusations that intelligence failures allowed Mohamed Merah to carry out three deadly attacks before being tracked down, police also face questions over the raid that ended in his death on Thursday.
Merah murdered three Jewish children, a trainee rabbi and three soldiers in three separate gun attacks between March 11 and March 19 in and near the southwestern city of Toulouse, shocking France in the build-up to presidential elections.
France’s most wanted man tried to shoot his way out of his apartment after a 32-hour police siege that ended in his death on Thursday.
Speculation is rife over the 23-year-old’s motives and whether he had any accomplices. He had claimed to be an Al-Qaeda member who killed to avenge Palestinian children and punish France for sending troops to Afghanistan.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant told Saturday’s Le Figaro that Merah was a “terrorist acting alone.”
“It’s the first time that France has been confronted with this particular type of action,” he said, dismissing as “irresponsible” criticism of the police and in particular the operation that ended in his death.
“The men who carried out this operation are very great professionals,” he added.
And in a swipe at the government’s political rivals, he said: “The left is always saying that we don’t do enough and, at the same time, refusing all the means that would increase the effectiveness of the police.”
Also Saturday, Merah’s older brother Abdelkader was transferred to Paris along with his girlfriend for questioning by anti-terrorist police, a source close to the investigation said.
Police and prosecutors have said that the 29-year-old is a radical Islamist and that traces of what could be an explosive material had been found in his car.
Mother of French gunman ‘filled with remorse’
The mother of the French gunman who killed seven people including children in a spate of attacks that shocked France is filled with remorse and fears reprisals, her lawyer said Saturday.
Zoulhika Aziri was detained Wednesday and released on Friday night by investigators probing her 23-year-old son Mohamed Merah’s killing spree in southwestern France this month.
Merah himself was killed on Thursday trying to shoot his way out of an apartment following a 32-hour police siege in the city of Toulouse.
He murdered three Jewish children, a trainee rabbi and three soldiers in three separate gun attacks between March 11 and March 19 in and near Toulouse, causing deep anguish in France in the build-up to a presidential election.
“Could she have prevented these things, this is what she is asking herself,” lawyer Jean-Yves Gougnaud said, describing Aziri as “wracked with guilt and remorse”.
“She’s angry. She is wondering why her son did this and blames herself somewhat,” Gougnaud told journalists outside the police station where Aziri was held.
Azira is also anxious for her own safety, he said. “She is afraid of retaliation, that is why she is not going home for the moment.”
Merah’s brother Abdelkader, 29, who is still being detained, has told police he was proud of Mohamed’s actions.
