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French Gunman

March 23, 2012 by · Comments Off on French Gunman 

French Gunman, Officials say an autopsy on the body of the gunman suspected of carrying out the killing spree in the city of Toulouse shows he died of two bullet wounds _ but that he was hit by some 20 bullets, mainly in the arms and legs.

The judicial and police officials said Friday that a bullet wound to the left temple and another to the abdomen of 23-year-old Mohamed Merah were fatal.

The officials said the autopsy also found some 20 bullets, mainly to the arms and legs of the man. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Merah, who claimed al-Qaida ties, killed seven people in three attacks. He died Thursday in a gunfight after a 32-hour standoff with police who said they fired in self-defense.

French authorities have no evidence that al-Qaida commissioned a French gunman to go on a killing spree that left seven people dead, or that he had any contact with terrorist groups, a senior official said Friday.

France’s prime minister and other officials have been fending off suggestions that anti-t*rror*sm authorities fell down on the job in monitoring 23-year-old Mohamed Merah, who had been known to them for years before he went on three deadly shooting attacks this month from a motorcycle.

Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, was killed in a dramatic gunfight with police Thursday after a 32-hour standoff at his Toulouse apartment with police. Prosecutors said he filmed himself carrying out the attacks that began March 11, killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French paratroopers with close-range shots to the head. Another Jewish student and another paratrooper were wounded.

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