Toulouse

The brother of Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah has been placed under investigation for helping attacks against Jewish schoolchildren and soldiers.

A brother of Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah denies helping him mount his deadly attacks in Toulouse and Montauban, a French police source said.

The initial information about Toulouse killer Mohamed Merah suggests that his is a story of modern France. While the Presidency and certain media commentators would like to stop all debate about what this event means for our society, the precise opposite is true. Like the earlier case of Algerian-born Khaled Kelkal, who was shot dead by gendarmes in 1995 after being implicated in a wave of bomb attacks in France, the story of Mohamed Merah holds up a mirror to society. And, says Mediapart editor François Bonnet, it raises vital questions for presidential candidates who seek to provide an alternative to the current presidency.

The role of the authorities in hunting the gunman who carried out the atrocities in Toulouse and Montauban in south-west France has come under the microscope since the main suspect was shot dead in a siege at his flat. Questions have been raised about how long it took to locate Mohamed Merah after the first attack, and to what extent the French intelligence agency had been monitoring him before the murders took place. Michel Deléan reports.

The 23-year-old suspected of killing seven people in France in the name of Al Qaeda died when police stormed his flat after a long siege.

Fears of more attacks as senior commander with Al Qaeda-affiliated group says five of them have already completed ther training and left.

The gunman suspected of shooting dead seven people said his only regret was not having been able to carry out his plans for more killings.

The shooting of a rabbi and three young children at a Jewish school in Toulouse in south-west France and the earlier killing of three off-duty French soldiers have shocked the nation. These tragic events occurred as the presidential election entered its final month, forcing the candidates to reconsider their strategies. Some chose to suspend their campaign, others carried on electioneering. Lénaïg Bredoux, Ellen Salvi and Marine Turchi report.

French police have surrounded a house where a man suspected of a series of deadly shootings in Toulouse and Montauban is holed up.

Centrist candidate Francois Bayrou has refused to join other candidates in halting his campaign after the killing of four people at a school.

Schools throughout France observed a minute's silence at 11.00am  in memory of the three children and a teacher shot dead at a Jewish school.

France effectively put its election campaign on hold after a gunman killed three children and a teacher at a Jewish school.

A gunman has opened fire on a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse, killing three children and an adult.