France shootings siege: Live Report

1330 GMT: Stick around for comments from the French chief prosecutor, who is about to give a new conference

1232 GMT: "Our Muslim compatriots are unconnected with the crazy motivations of a terrorist," Sarkozy says.

1226 GMT: Sarkozy says in a televised statement that anyone who travels abroad, as Merah claimed to have done, for training in terrorism, should be punished.

Sarkozy has asked for a study of how terrorist ideas are propogated and vowed a crackdown on the spreading of such ideas in prisons.

"We can't accept our prisons being centres for brainwashing and teaching of terrorism," Sarkozy says.

1217 GMT: Mohamed Merah "was dead by the time he hit the ground" after fleeing through a window of his Toulouse flat, a police source says after authorities announced the death following a 32-hour siege of the suspect in the killings of seven people in southern France.

1212 GMT: Sarkozy is about to give a news conference on this morning's death in a gun battle with police of the man who allegedly rode around on a scooter to carry out a killing spree.

1206 GMT: FRENCH SHOOTING SUSPECT 'KILLED' BY POLICE AS HE JUMPED FROM BALCONY: POLICE SOURCE

1202 GMT: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has congratulated police involved in the operation.

"The president congratulates all of the security forces after the conclusion of these tragic events," he said. "Our thoughts at this time are particularly for those killed and wounded by the suspected killer."

1152 GMT: Merah finally jumped out of a window with a weapon in his hand, still shooting. He was then found dead on the ground below, Gueant said.

1147 GMT: Video surveillance showed noone in the flat's main rooms or in the toilet, which just left the bathroom. When "a means of investigation" was put into the bathroom, Merah came out shooting "with extreme violence", the interior minister said.

1144 GMT: Gueant says police went in after grenades thrown at the apartment brought no response from Merah.

They entered through the doorway of Merah's flat after removing the door and also entered via windows after removing shutters during the night.

1137 GMT: More from Interior Minister Gueant: "RAID officers of course tried to protect themselves, to return fire, and then in the end, Mohamed Merah jumped out of the window with a gun in his hand, continuing to fire. He was found dead on the ground."

1136 GMT: Police found Mohamed Merah in the bathroom after clearing all the other rooms of the flat where he had mounted a 31 hour standoff with police, Interior Minister Claude Gueant tells journalists..

"When a means of investigation (such as a mirror or camera) was introduced into the bathroom, the killer came out from the bathroom shooting very violently. The bursts of gunfire were frequent and hard," Gueant says.

"A RAID (special police) officer who is used to this kind of thing told me that he had never seen such a violent assault.

The situation at 1130 GMT: Several hours of silence from a man accused of seven horror killings in France end abruptly barely an hour ago as police go into to his suburban flat and spark a shootout which leaves him dead.

Mohamed Merah, a 23 year-old Frenchman of Algerian origin, dies as he jumps from a window still shooting after police find him hiding in the bathroom of the first floor flat in the Belle Paule apartment block in the southern French city of Toulouse.

Police say 300 bullets were fired in the gun battle which broke out when a specialist team entered the flat to end a 31 hour stand off with the self-proclaimed Al Qaeda supporter who is said to have vowed to die "weapons in hand".

1122 GMT: One French policeman is wounded in the foot and two others are in shock after this morning's raid on the self-professed Al-Qaeda militant Mohamed Merah, a police source says.

A police source said earlier that three police had been wounded, one "fairly seriously." The suspected serial killer died during the assault.

1116 GMT: The 23 year-old Frenchman of Algerian origin, who died a few minutes ago in a shootout with police, was accused of killing three children and a Jewish teacher on cold blood on Monday following his assassination of three paratroopers last week.

1115 GMT: "Mohamed Merah jumped from the window still shooting," Interior Minister Claude Gueant told journalists, adding that Merah attacked police "with extreme violence" after bursting out of the bathroom. "He was found dead on the ground."

1111 GMT: The killer allegedly responsible for seven racist deaths in France hid in the bathroom of his first-floor flat when police broke in to end the 31 hour standoff, police sources say.

He died as he jumped out of a window still shooting, they say.

1106 GMT: Alleged racist killer Mohamed Merah was wearing a backpack with unknown contents, police say, after a team of specialists bursts into his flat to end a 31-hour siege.

Merah had said he wanted "to die weapons in hand", according to Interior Minister Claude Gueant.

1103 GMT: MOHAMED MERAH DIED AFTER JUMPING OUT OF WINDOW STILL SHOOTING: POLICE SOURCE

1100 GMT: Several hours of silence from the man accused of seven horror killings in France end abruptly as police go into to his suburban flat and spark a gun battle which leaves him dead and three police officers wounded.

1051 GMT: Mohamed Merah dies in a shoot-out with police after a 32 hour standoff at the Belle Paule apartment block in Toulouse, but not before three police officers are wounded, one of them seriously, in a 300-bullet gun battle.

1049 GMT: MOHAMED MERAH DIES AFTER 'RESISTING' POLICE WHO ENTERED HIS FLAT

1047 GMT: A FIVE MINUTE BURST OF GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS ENDS THE TOULOUSE SIEGE

1046 GMT: 300 SHOTS EXCHANGED AS MERAH RESISTED ARREST: POLICE

1042 GMT: Mohamed Merah's young life comes to an end, police say, as a specialist team goes into his flat to end the 32 hour stand off with the man accused of murdering seven people in a racially motivated killing spree.

1040 GMT: THREE POLICE WOUNDED, ONE SERIOUSLY IN FRENCH SIEGE ASSAULT: POLICE SOURCE

1034 GMT: FRENCH SHOOTING SUSPECT DEAD: POLICE SOURCE

1030 GMT: BURSTS OF GUNFIRE CLOSE TO TOULOUSE FLAT: AFP REPORTERS

1026 GMT: The world's media and a swathe of back-up security forces wait with bated breath in the street outside as a team of specialist police bring a sudden end to the 31 hour standoff with the young Frenchman of Algerian origin who has vowed to die "weapons in hand".

1024 GMT: Life-and-death drama as police gingerly enter the Belle Paule apartment block where Mohamed Merah has been holed up.

They go one step at a time in case of boody traps, as they start to search the first-floor flat to see if the 23 year-old gunman is still alive.

1018 GMT: Police still don't know whether Merah is alive or dead. "He hasn't shown himself," the source tells AFP.

1016 GMT: Police are entering Merah's apartment "one step at a time" in case it is booby trapped, a police source tells AFP.

1010 GMT: POLICE INSIDE FRENCH SHOOTING SUSPECT'S APARTMENT: POLICE SOURCE:

1009: A police source tells AFP the 31 hour stand off is likely to end "quickly" though he won't say whether Merah is alive or dead.

1003 GMT: FRANCE SHOOTING SIEGE 'COMING TO AN END': POLICE SOURCE

1000 GMT GMT: The situation at 1000 GMT in the Toulouse suburb where the gunmen suspected of seven murders has been holed up for more than 31 hours:

Three loud explosions have been heard near the flat where Mohamed Merah, a 23 year-old Frenchman of Algerian origin has been under police seige.

Nothing has been heard for six hours from the self-proclaimed Al Qaeda supporter, who reportedly said he wanted "to die weapons in hand", while French Interior Minister Claude Beant is still saying he wants to capture Merah alive.

0953 GMT: A swathe of law enforcement officers, some of them with heavy equipment , surround the beseiged apartment block, as an ambulance enters the security cordon, say AFP reporters at the scene.

0951 GMT: It is now more than six hours since there was any communication with the self-proclaimed Al Qaeda supporter, who reportedly said he wanted "to die weapons in hand."

0946 GMT: Does the arrival of an ambulance mean French security forces are about to storm the first-floor flat where Merah has made his stand?

0940 GMT: Tension mounts as three loud explosions are heard at the apartment building where Mohamed Merah, a 23 year-old French citizen of Algerian origin has been holed up for more than 31 hours. Is he alive or is he dead?

0938 GMT: An ambulance enters the security cordon shortly after three loud explosions are heard near the apartment building where suspected murderer Mohamed Merah is holed up.

0935 GMT: THREE LOUD EXPLOSIONS NEAR SITE OF FRENCH SIEGE: AFP JOURNALISTS

0929 GMT: France's poor suburbs are "fertile ground" where young Muslims can be lured by jihad, but they are in a "very small minority", Gilles Kepel, an expert on Islam, tells AFP.

0905 GMT: France's Socialist party will be "tough on crime" if its candidate Francois Hollande wins the upcoming presidental election, former prime minister Laurent Fabius says on France 2 television.

"How did this hooligan turn to terrorism? Was Al Qaeda involved or not," he said.

"Could intervention have happened more quickly, given that he already had a track record," Fabius says.

0859 GMT: French society "is no longer integrating people born on its soil, often born to parents themselves born in the country," Bayrou says, adding that this applies to employment, education and city life.

0845 GMT: The story of Mohamed Merah shows "the presence within French society of people who have been radicalised to the point of madness.," says Francois Bayrou, a centrist candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

But France's problems "are wider", he says in an interview with BFM TV and Radio Monte Carlo.

0839 GMT: Speaking to AFP, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe denies suggesting there might have been shortcomings in surveillance of Merah.

"I personally have no reason to think there were any shortcomings," he said.

Jupper said earlier on Europe 1 radio: " I can't tell you whether there were shortcomings, I can't tell you what sort of shortcoming, but we need clarity about it."

Merah has been under surveillance by France's DCRI domestic intelligence agency.

0835 AM: More quotes from Gueant's radio interview: "These so-called lone wolves are formidable opponents."

There had never been any "criminal tendencies" in Islamist radicals in the Toulouse area and no indication that any attacks were being prepared, he said.

Officials have said Merah acted alone and Gueant said it was extremely difficult to fight against "an isolated individual".

0830 GMT: Update on the situation at 0830 GMT: A man suspected of a series of deadly shootings has been holed up for the past 27 hours in a flat in Toulouse, southern France.

French Interior MInister Claude Gerant has just arrived outside the apartment building after revealing that it's not clear if the shooter is actually still alive as police had "no contact" with him during the night.

Mohamed Merah said he wanted "to die weapons in hand," Gueant said earlier.

The sound of blasts and gunshots were heard overnight and one source says anti-terrorist officers besieging the apartment exploded a series of charges before and after midnight to intimidate 23-year-old Merah, who has claimed responsibility for seven murders.

0820 GMT: An AFP journalist outside the the building where Merah is holed up sees Gerant arrive, along with Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. An aide to Gerant says: "There is nothing new."

0818 GMT: FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER CLAUDE GERANT ARRIVES OUTSIDE THE BUILDING WHERE MOHAMED MERAH IS HOLED UP

0812 GMT: Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Juppe says: "I can understand the question being asked whether or not there were shortcomings. Just as I can't tell you whether there were shortcomings, I can't tell you what sort of shortcoming, but we need clarity about it."

Merah was "questioned recently" by the security services, the foreign minister said.

0805 GMT: French Foreigh Minister Alain Juppe says "clarity" is needed on possible shortcomings in the surveillance of Mohammed Merah by the security services.

0720 GMT: Gueant insists the authorities' main priority is to "take (Merah) alive so that he can surrender to face justice. We hope he is still alive."

Gueant said it was "quite strange that he did not react" when police exploded a series of charges overnight to get his attention.

"We heard two shots, we don't know what they were," he added.

"Despite redoubled efforts throughout the night, there has been no contact with him," he said.

0716 GMT: French Interior Minister Claude Gueant reveals that it's not clear if the shooter is actually still alive as police had "no contact" with him during the night.

The suspect said he wanted "to die weapons in hand," Gueant said on RTL radio.

0700 GMT: A source says that Mohamed Merah no longer seems to want to surrender "he seems very determined."

0508 GMT: With the siege well into its second day, negotiations between the police elite Raid team and Mohammed Merah are becoming one of the longest carried out by the team since May, 1993. Talks have been going on for some 27 hours now.

In the 1993 case former soldier Erick Schmitt took a teacher and students hostage at a kindergarten in the Paris suburb of Neuilly. Raid finally launched an assault after 46 hours killing Schmitt and rescuing all the hostages safely.

0330 GMT: While there are no obvious signs of an imminent police assault on the gunman, a source close to the enquiry says the end to the standoff is not far off.

0300 GMT: Commentators in the French press on the recent shootings and standoff with Mohamed Merah say the events present a challenge for politicians during the current presidential campaign, and that what has happened in Toulouse will bring change.

"The challenge politicians are facing is a test of national cohesion," writes Nicolas Barre in the economic journal Les Echos. "Mourning and national unity can become hypocrisy and a trap," says Jean-Emmanuel Ducoin in L'Humanit?. In Lib?ration, Nicolas Demorand said he hopes these events will bring change and ?some words, some speech will disappear permanently from public life.?

0130 GMT: A new blast and gunfire has been heard near the building under siege in Toulouse. It appears police could be testing the resistance oft he suspect, who is now holed up in an apartment without water, gas or electricity.

0100 GMT: A weapons specialist has told AFP that the denotations heard in the past few hours "could have come from stun grenades" used to test the response capabilities of the suspect and therefore influence the negotiations.

2346 GMT: Over 20 hours into this tense siege, we now seem to be in a phase of uncertainty. Two sources have now declined to speak of the latest explosions as an assault. But are we close to a resolution?

2312 GMT: As we have heard previously, Merah, who claims to have been trained by Al-Qaeda on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, is thought to be heavily armed with weapons including with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Mini-Uzi submachine pistol and a collection of handguns. Not yet clear exactly where these three latest explosions were coming from.

2308 GMT: Despite the flurry of activity, an unnamed source close to the operation has denied the latest blasts indicate a fresh assault on 23-year-old Merah's first floor flat. "He said he wanted to give himself up. He changed his mind, so we're stepping up on the pressure on him to surrender," the source said. There were no sounds suggesting an exchange of fire following the blasts, according to AFP reporters on the ground.

2301 GMT: The explosions come at the end of a long day for French police hunting Mohamed Merah, who is of course suspected of killing three French troops as well as three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in recent days. The siege started early this morning and it is thought the explosions could be an effort to incapacitate the suspect so he can be captured alive and tried. He has fought off several previous attempted assaults on the apartment.

2247 GMT: Television pictures from the scene paint a ghostly picture. Lights in the neighbourhood were earlier switched off so many parts are pitch black, although temporary lights are illuminating some areas with an orange glow.

2240 GMT: Police have been playing a waiting game for some time now, seemingly holding out for the gunman to tire. The blasts could be an indication that they are now trying to take decisive action to end the siege.

2237 GMT: AFP journalists report hearing three blasts near the site of the siege.

2053 GMT: Merah only attacked the Jewish school in Toulouse Monday because he wanted to kill a soldier but could not find a military target, interior minister Claude Gueant tells LCI television. The school attack left three children and a teacher dead and sent shockwaves across France.

2019 GMT: A bid to broker Merah's surrender through someone he knew failed just before the decision was taken to turn the lights off, an unnamed source close to the matter tells AFP. Despite the darkness elsewhere, Merah's building is still lit up through an alternative source.

2014 GMT: The decision to switch off the lights, reported by an AFP correspondent on the ground, could be in anticipation of an assault on the apartment where Merah is holed up.

2011 GMT: We are now hearing that street lights in the area where the siege is taking place have been switched off.

1947 GMT: Gueant's full quote: "He explained how he received instructions from Al-Qaeda during his stay in Pakistan, how he had even been suggested to carry out a suicide mission but refused, but accepted to carry out a general mission to commit an attack in France." Prosecutors have already said that Merah, the suspect, has told negotiators he was trained by the late Osama bin Laden's Islamist network on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

1943 GMT: More very interesting comments from Claude Gueant, the French interior minister. He told TF1 TV that the suspect had received orders from Al-Qaeda but refused their request for him to carry out a suicide attack.

1931 GMT: France's interior minister says the gunman was given a "mission" for attacks in the country.

1914 GMT: More on the potential political implications of this tense stand-off. While some experts say it could favour the far-right, others add Sarkozy could win credit for being in power when the suspect was tracked down. However, there may be questions about why French intelligence tracked him for several years without taking action.

1856 GMT: US President Barack Obama calls President Nicolas Sarkozy to offer his condolences. The French presidency says in a statement: "France and the United States are more determined than ever to fight together against terrorist barbarism."

1855 GMT: Questions are also being asked about what impact this situation will have on the result of the French presidential elections in May. Some analysts say it could boost Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front. Le Pen has warned in the aftermath of the shootings that: "The danger of fundamentalism has been underestimated in our country."

1838 GMT: It is now over 16 hours since the siege started and more descriptions are emerging of the suspect Merah. In the area of Toulouse where he is from, one youth described him to AFP as "gentle, calm, respectful and generous." He added that Merah "prayed but was not an extremist." Earlier, Eric Lambert, the father of one of his neighbours, said Merah was "like anyone else in the street who would give you a hand to carry a sofa."

1826 GMT: Defence officials confirm that Merah twice tried to sign up for the French army -- once in 2008 and then for the famed Foreign Legion two years later.

1821 GMT: With the standoff stretching into the evening, let's recap for readers just joining this Live Report. Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent who describes himself as an Al-Qaeda militant, is holed up in a Toulouse apartment. He has claimed responsibility for recent shootings which have shocked the nation -- the killing of three French paratroopers, three Jewish children and a teacher. Merah has held off several police assaults on the flat and is believed to be heavily armed.

1748 GMT: More on Merah from the French prosecutor. He says that from mid August to mid October 2011, the suspected gunman visited Pakistan, where he contracted hepatitis A.

1720 GMT: A scooter dealer in Toulouse tells AFP he played a key role in identifying the suspect. Christian Dellacherie, who owns the Yam 31 Yamaha dealership, says he provided investigators with the name of the suspected gunman, Mohamed Merah.

Watching surveillance footage shown to him by police, Dellacherie had noticed that the scooter used in the attack had been partially repainted white and recalled a man who came into his shop a few days earlier saying he had taken his scooter apart to repaint it. "I gave them the first and last names of the young man, which we had in our database since he was 14 years old," Dellacherie said.

1710 GMT: Police have also found a camera that the killer may have used to film the attacks, Molins confirms, responding to reporters' questions at a press conference in Toulouse. It was discovered "in a bag which he had given to an acquaintance to look after," the prosecutor adds.

1647 GMT: Police have found the scooter allegedly used by the gunman and are looking for a car that may contain weapons, the French prosecutor says. "A T-Max scooter has been found with the two dark and white helmets used at the different crime scenes, while a Clio is actively sought and everything leads us to believe that it contains a certain number of weapons and ammunition."

1642 GMT: Merah said he was driven by the fate of the Palestinians, France's involvement in Afghanistan and the banning of the veil in France, Molins says. A France 24 journalist who received a call during the night from a man claiming to be the killer earlier cited the same motives.

1631 GMT: The French prosecutor continues: "Mohamed Merah explained that he belonged to Al-Qaeda. He explained he had been trained by Al-Qaeda in the Pakistani-Afghanistan region in Waziristan. He explained his trips abroad, including his time in Afghanistan.

"He said he does not have a suicidal spirit, he did not have a martyr's soul, he preferred to kill and remain alive."

1622 GMT: Francois Molins is France's top anti-terror magistrate, who is overseeing the probe into the killing of three soldiers, three Jewish children and a teacher. Refering to the suspect, Molins told reporters: "He says he always acted alone." "He has expressed no regret" except "not having been able to have more victims".

1609 GMT: The French prosecutor has also given details of the incident earlier in which two officers were wounded. He says police attempted several assaults on the holed-up suspect but were fired on each time.

Two officers were wounded by Mohamed Merah, one in the knee and one when a bullet hit his flak jacket, Molins says, adding that the alleged serial killer had identified two police he wanted to kill.

1604 GMT: Merah has claimed all three French shootings, Molins says.

1600 GMT: The suspect boasted of bringing "France to its knees", the prosecutor adds.

1558 GMT: Molins says the gunman has pledged to surrender "later this evening".

1556 GMT: More details emerging about the gunman from French prosecutor Francois Molins. He tells reporters that the US army sent the gunman back to France after he was arrested in Afghanistan.

1547 GMT: The ceremony in memory of soldiers Imad Ibn Ziaten, killed March 11, and Abel Chennouf and Mohammed Legouade, both killed March 15, has come to a close.

1545 GMT: The president reflects on a fourth soldier wounded in the attacks who is fighting for his life. He says he hopes doctors can save him and calls on his brothers in arms to support him.

1537 GMT: "A French soldier knows death and knows how to look it in the face, but the death our men met was not the death for which they were prepared. It was not death on the field of battle but a terrorist execution," Sarkozy says. The killer wanted to "bring France to its knees", he adds, but failed.

1520 GMT: Back in Montauban - a memorial ceremony is under way for the three soldiers gunned down at their barracks. Speaking at the service, President Nicolas Sarkozy says the French paratroopers were victims of a "terrorist execution".

1516 GMT: A police source tells AFP the suspect, Mohamed Merah, planned to kill another soldier. He says the suspect "told investigators this morning that he had decided to kill a soldier in Toulouse on Wednesday morning and had already identified the victim."

1510 GMT: Police are analysing explosives found in the car of Merah's brother, a source close to the inquiry says, adding that they consisted of black powder that could be lignite, a slow-burning fuel. Police earlier searched homes of the suspect's mother and brother. Gueant says the pair have been placed under "precautionary detention".

1454 GMT: French Interior Minister Gueant tells AFP negotiations are "still under way".

A source close to the operation says the negotiations had been suspended in the morning because Merah "was tired, he wanted to rest and to read" but had since continued. He warned the talks may be "long and difficult" as "the young man has a strong temperament".

1446 GMT: Nicole Yardeni, head of the CRIF Jewish group in the Midi-Pyrenees region, said Sarkozy had told representatives of the Jewish community that the shooter "already had a plan to kill again" and that "he planned to kill this morning". Sarkozy, who later visited the scene of the siege, has left without comment after spending close to an hour there.

1440 GMT: Breaking news - Sarkozy has said the gunman planned a new attack Wednesday, according to a Jewish leader.

1435 GMT: Mohamed Merah was convicted around 15 days ago to one month in prison for driving without a licence and was supposed to see a judge in April about the sentence.

1419 GMT: "The suspect's lawyer Christian Etelin said he discoverd two years ago that Merah had "suddenly radicalised" and gone to Afghanistan. "I told him that, given his travels, he must be under close police surveillance and that he had better not do anything wrong," Etelin says. "He did not give the impression that he could become radical and want to start committing acts of such absolute harshness."

1402 GMT: No arrest - French Interior Minister Claude Gueant denies that the suspect has been detained, refuting earlier media reports of an arrest.

1339 GMT: New evidence - French police say explosives have been found in the car of the suspect's brother. Police said earlier they had detained the suspect's mother and brother, along with the brother's girlfriend.

1330 GMT: Back in Toulouse - Sarkozy arrives at the place where the suspect is holed up. The French president is to meet with police in charge of the operation and religious community representatives, before visiting wounded victims in hospital. He will later attend a ceremony in honour of three dead soldiers.

1327 GMT: Snipers have been positioned in Montauban Cathedral during Chennouf's funeral to support the deployment of several CRS riot police units, according to town mayor Brigitte Bar?ges.

1316 GMT: In Montauban, southern France, mourners have gathered for the first of the funerals of the three soldiers killed in the attacks. "We are this morning a people united beyond conflicts of thought and divisions", said the Bishop of Montauban, Bernard Ginoux, in Montauban Cathedral, in front of the flag-draped coffin of Corporal Abel Chennouf.

1247 GMT: Police say are treating seriously the call to news channel France 24 by a man claiming to be the killer. The call came two hours before special forces cornered the suspect. Claiming to be affiliated to Al-Qaeda, the caller said "either I will go prison with my head held high or I will die with a smile," according to journalist Ebba Kalondo.

1227 GMT: More details are emerging about the suspect, with French Interior Minister Claude Gueant saying he was part of a group of Islamic Salafist fundamentalists in Toulouse who had made two trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He carried out at least 18 minor crimes, reports say, and was arrested in Afghanistan's former Taliban stronghold Kandahar in late 2010 for an unspecified crime, according to a source close to the inquiry.

1212 GMT: At the scene - The murder suspect has resumed negotiations with police, officers say. He had cut off talks with police about two hours earlier.

1210 GMT: Referring to a "polite and courteous" man, Etelin describes Merah as "a gentle, amenable individual and certainly not a fanatic." He said his client had served a prison sentence for "a common crime" after snatching a bag from someone in a bank.

1157 GMT: Lawyer Christian Etelin, who has defended Merah over various petty crimes since 2004, tells BFM-TV that "the situation and what I know of his personality, with certain fragile aspects, leads me to fear unpredictable behaviour."

1147 GMT: In Toulouse - Several young men, presenting themselves as friends of Merah, have arrived near the scene where he is holed up in a flat, offering to act as mediators, AFP's Nicolas Gaudichet reports. Police are asking them to wait.

1143 GMT: According to a police source, Mohammed Merah, born October 10, 1988, in Toulouse, had recently been refused entry into the army. His killing methods suggest someone who was trained and used to using weapons.

1132 GMT: The France 24 journalist who received a call claiming responsibility for the attacks describes the caller as "a very eloquent young man and "very, very calm". "He said that it was to avenge the law against wearing the veil and France's participation in the war in Afghanistan and also to protest against the situation in Palestine," she tells France Info.

1102 GMT: Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad says extremists must stop "marketing their terrorist acts in the name of Palestine" and "stop pretending to stand up for the rights of Palestinian children who only ask for a decent life". The shooting suspect claims to have acted to avenge Palestinian children, France's interior minister said earlier.

1046 GMT: Those neighbours trapped in the besieged flats, who were pleading to be let out, have in fact now been evacuated, police say. Officers said they were in shock and were being offered psychiatric support.

1040 GMT: At the scene - Neighbours trapped inside the five-storey apartment building besieged by French special forces in Toulouse are pleading for authorities to get them out. "You must ask them to get us out!" a sobbing woman told France Info radio by telephone, saying she lived just above the first floor flat where the suspect was holed up.

1035 GMT: Palestinian diplomatic missions in France condemn the "hateful" Jewish school attack "in the strongest possible terms". "All racist crimes are attacks on humanity in general and on the republic in particular," they said in a statement, issued in the name of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian Authority, and Palestine's missions to France and UNESCO.

1031 GMT: President Nicolas Sarkozy, giving a TV address, says: "Terrorism will not succeed in fracturing our national community".

1028 GMT: French socialist presidential candidate Fran?ois Hollande voices his "relief" that the suspect has been identified and hopes "the operation unfolds normally".

1020 GMT: France's domestic intelligence agency had tracked the suspect "for years", Gueant admits, telling journalists: "He had for several years been tracked by the DCRI and its agents in Toulouse, but there was never anything to suggest that he was preparing a criminal act."

1015 GMT: The French interior minister says the gunman has stopped negotiating with police. "He is no longer talking, the conversations have stopped," Gueant tells journalists in Toulouse. Earlier police said they were in talks with Mohammed Merah who had pledged to surrender later.

1012 GMT: More on the latest arrests... the mother and brother of the suspect has been detained along with the brother's girlfriend, police reveal. Police had said previously that the brother was in custody and that the mother had been taken to the siege scene to try and get her son to surrender.

1009 GMT Sarkozy is also to meet today with the head of the French Muslim Council, Mohammed Moussaoui, and Richard Prasquier, the head of France's main Jewish organisation, the CRIF.

1006 GMT: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is going to Montauban for a memorial ceremony for the three soldiers killed at 1430 GMT, will "pass by Toulouse" and "meet the investigators to thank them", Intererior Minister Claude Gueant announces.

0955 GMT: Police and ministers say the gunman's mother and brother have been arrested and that the shooter has stopped talking to police. More to follow.

0943 GMT: At the funeral of the four school shooting victims, taking place in Jerusalem, Israeli interior minister Eli Yishai says: "There is justice and there is a judge. We hope that the government of France will take the strongest steps against the perpetrators and do everything to ensure the safety of all the Jews in France, to chase out anti-Semitism and its supporters."

0939 GMT: France's top Muslim leader speaks out against the shootings, saying the killer acted against Islam. "These acts are in total contradiction with the foundations of this religion," says the head of the French Muslim Council, Mohammed Moussaoui. "France's Muslims are offended by this claim of belonging to this religion."

0929 GMT: More on the comments from French Interior Minister Claude Gueant ... he says the suspect is thought to be armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Mini-Uzi 9mm machine pistol and other handguns, but has thrown the .45 pistol believed to have been used in the shootings from the window.

"The presumed guilty party asked for a means to communicate with police. In exchange for this means of communication, he threw a Colt .45 from the window. He has certainly thrown one weapon out, but he has others," Gueant told BFM-TV.

Earlier Gueant said the suspect had spoken to officers through the door of his apartment, and declared himself to be a "mujaheedeen" or Islamic warrior fighting to avenge Palestinian children killed in the conflict with Israel.

0913 GMT: The France 24 journalist who received a call during the night from a man claiming to be the killer tells AFP journalist Nicolas Gaudichet he gave her details of the murder, including the number of shots fired and type of weapon used. "He said he was affiliated with Al-Qaeda and that it was only the beginning...that everything was filmed... and that it would be on the web shortly".

0857 GMT: The explosion heard earlier near the building where the suspect is holed up came from the destruction of a vehicle which was blocking police efforts, a source close to the investigation says.

0850 GMT: The besieged suspect has declared he will surrender later today, Interior Minister Claude Gueant says.

"He is currently in a dialogue with a police official and he says, I do not know if he is telling the truth, that he he will hand himself in later in the day," the minister tells BFM-TV.

0843 GMT: Back in France, police have named the suspected gunman as Mohammed Merah, 23, of Algerian origin.

0840 GMT: Meanwhile in Jerusalem funerals are under way for the three French-Israeli children and a teacher who were gunned down in the Jewish school shooting, AFP correspondent Selim Saheb Ettaba reports from Israel.

At least 2,000 mourners were gathered at the Givat Shaul cemetery as the four bodies were carried to the gravesite. Among them is French Foreign Minister Alain Jupp? as well as family and friends of the deceased.

0835 GMT: French Interior Minister Claude Gueant says police want to catch the suspect alive. He tells BFM television: "Our main concern is to catch him and to catch him under such conditions that he can be brought to justice."

0830 GMT: A loud blast was heard earlier near the besieged building, an AFP journalist reports.

LIVE REPORT: French police have surrounded a house in Toulouse where a man suspected of a series of deadly shootings is holed up. In this live report AFP will be following the operation as it unfolds.

So far two officers have been wounded after shots were fired at the property under siege in a residential area of the city.

The suspect is a French national of North African origin who has declared himself a member of the Al-Qaeda network, officials said.

In the latest development, police said the suspect had been previously arrested in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. A source close to the investigation told AFP that the 23-year-old had once been arrested on a matter of common law in the country.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-shootings-siege-live-report-083034635.html

hope solo hope solo texas high school football fugazi fugazi indiana jones and the last crusade nba lockout