After a 32 hour standoff,the Islamic terrorist accused of killing seven people was killed Thursday as police raided his apartment.
Mohamed Merah, who was barricaded in his apartment in the French city of Toulouse, was found in the bathroom of his apartment and began firing at police as they entered. He was reportedly shot in the head as he jumped out the window.
The killer came out of the bathroom, firing with extreme violence, Claude Gueant, the interior minister, said, according to Fox News. The minister said he had never seen an assault like it.
Mohamed Merah jumped out the window, gun in hand, continuing to fire, said Gueant. He was found dead on the ground.
Police wanted to capture Merah alive in order to extract information from him. He had boasted about carrying out attacks against schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French paratroopers in three separate incidents. He reportedly carried out these attacks in order to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and protests the French military's involvement in Afghanistan, reported Fox.
Merah was reportedly a radicalized French citizen who had visited Afghanistan and the Pakistani militant stronghold of Waziristan, where claimed to receive training from al-Qaeda, reported Fox.
Click through the slide show to check out dramatic images of the Merah's standoff with French police forces.
An undated and non-datelined video frame grab broadcast March 21, 2012 by French national television station France 2 who they claim to show Mohamed Merah, the suspect in the killing of 3 paratroopers, 3 children and a rabbi in recent days in France. About 300 police, some in body armour, have cordoned off a five-storey building in Toulouse where the 24-year-old Muslim shooter, identified as Mohamed Merah, is holed up. Reutersrance's President Nicolas Sarkozy is seen making a statement on French national television from the Elysee Palace in Paris, in this still image taken from video, March 22, 2012. Sarkozy commented on the ending of the Toulouse standoff in which the 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday.ReutersFrance's Interior Minister Claude Gueant (C Rear) is seen before the assault to capture gunman Mohamed Merah during a raid on a five-storey building to arrest a suspect in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 22, 2012. The 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday. France's Interior Minister Claude Gueant said earlier police hoped to capture Mohamed Merah, who had confessed to police negotiators to killing three soldiers as well as three Jewish children and a rabbi at a school, alive. ReutersMasked French special unit policemen (RAID) arrive at Perignon barracks after the assault to capture gunman Mohamed Merah during a raid on a five-storey building to arrest a suspect in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 22, 2012. The 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday. France's Interior Minister said earlier police hoped to capture Mohamed Merah, who had confessed to police negotiators to killing three soldiers as well as three Jewish children and a rabbi at a school, alive.ReutersMasked French special unit policemen leave the scene after the assault to capture gunman Mohamed Merah during a raid on a five-storey building to arrest a suspect in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 22, 2012. The 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday. France's Interior Minister said earlier police hoped to capture Mohamed Merah, who had confessed to police negotiators to killing three soldiers as well as three Jewish children and a rabbi at a school, alive. ReutersMasked French special unit policemen (RAID) leave the scene to go to the Perignon barracks after the assault to capture gunman Mohamed Merah during a raid on a five-storey building to arrest a suspect in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 22, 2012. The 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday. France's Interior Minister said earlier police hoped to capture Mohamed Merah, who had confessed to police negotiators to killing three soldiers as well as three Jewish children and a rabbi at a school, alive.ReutersA masked French special unit policeman arrives during a raid on a house to arrest suspects in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 21, 2012. About 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armour, cordoned off an area surrounding an apartment in a Toulouse neighbourhood in southwestern France, where the 24-year-old Muslim man was holed up. Shots were heard in the early hours of the morning, and police said three officers had been slightly wounded.ReutersFrench CRS police secure a street during a raid on a house to arrest suspect in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 21, 2012. About 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armour, cordoned off an area surrounding an apartment in a Toulouse neighbourhood in southwestern France, where the 24-year-old Muslim man was holed up. Shots were heard in the early hours of the morning, and police said three officers had been slightly wounded. ReutersPolice forces block a street during a raid on a house to arrest suspects in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 21, 2012. Three police were injured in a shoot-out during the raid according to a police sourceReutersFrance's Interior Minister Claude Gueant (C) walks to speak to the media after the assault to capture gunman Mohamed Merah during a raid on a five-storey building to arrest a suspect in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school, in Toulouse March 22, 2012. A 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday. France's Interior Minister Claude Gueant said earlier police hoped to capture Mohamed Merah, who had confessed to police negotiators to killing three soldiers as well as three Jewish children and a rabbi at a school, alive.Reuters
