Raid on Toulouse shooting suspect

21 March 2012 Last updated at 05:13 GMT  Police sealed off streets in northern Toulouse early on Wednesday French police searching for a gunman who shot dead four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse have surrounded a house in the north of the city.

The man inside the bungalow where the operation is taking place has claimed affiliation to Al-Qaida, Interior Minister Claude Gueant told reporters.

Two police officers have been reported injured in the operation.

The man's mother has been brought to the scene to aid negotiations, Mr Gueant said.

He added that the man's brother was under arrest.

"He [the suspect] was in the DCRI's sights, as were others, after the first two attacks," an unnamed official told Agence France-Presse, referring to France's domestic intelligence service.

"Then the criminal investigation police brought in crucial evidence," the official added.

Police wearing helmets and flak jackets have cordoned off the residential area of Toulouse where the raid is happening, an eyewitness told the Liberation newspaper.

Other emergency services are also in attendance.

A huge manhunt has been under way in France amid fears the killer may strike again.

Funerals

Meanwhile, the funerals of the rabbi and three children killed in Monday's attack are due in Jerusalem in the coming hours.

Israeli police said they expected thousands of people to attend.

Also on Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to attend a memorial service for three soldiers killed in two attacks last week which police have linked to the Toulouse shootings.

The same gun and the same scooter were used in all the attacks. All three soldiers killed were of North African descent. Another soldier from the French overseas region of Guadeloupe was left critically ill.

The attacker gunned down Jonathan Sandler, a 30-year-old rabbi and teacher of religion, his two young sons Arieh and Gabriel and then - at point blank range - the head teacher's daughter, seven-year-old Myriam Monsonego, in Monday's attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

Their bodies were carried out of Ozar Hatorah school on Tuesday in two black hearses and taken to a nearby airport, reported AFP.

A military jet then flew them to Paris, from where they were placed on a commercial flight to Tel Aviv, AFP said. They have now arrived in Israel.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe was to accompany the relatives of the dead to the funerals in Jerusalem.

Mr Sarkozy and the Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande will attend the memorial service in Montauban for the three soldiers killed in last week's attacks.

Jonathan Sandler and his two oldest children were killed in the school attack

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right Front National, will also be at the service.

She is often associated with the more controversial debates on immigration and her presence will be closely observed in light of recent events, reports the BBC's Christian Fraser in Toulouse.

Scarlet alert

On Tuesday schools across France held a moment's silence to remember the victims of the killer, whom President France Sarkozy branded a "monster".

It is the first time in the country's history that the national terror alert has been raised to "scarlet", its highest level.

The measure enables the authorities to disrupt daily life and implement sweeping security measures. These include mixed police-military patrols and powers to suspend public transport and close schools.

Mr Gueant has said the killer had a camera strapped to his chest and may have filmed the shootings.

 

Read More

Aruba Missing Woman – Her Companion is Prime Suspect

The authorities has apprehended the companion of U.S. resident Robyn Gardner, 32, after she went missing following a snorkeling trip in Aruba last August 2.

The prime suspect is her 50-year-old companion Gary V. Giordano after his statements hinted some leads to the police who asked him a series of questions about the incident.

“Statements made by the traveling companion led to such questions that on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011, it was decided to detain him for further questioning on the possible drowning of the woman,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

Micheal Lopez, Giordano’s lawyer in Aruba, said his client should not be detained by the authorities.

“Our client emphatically denies being involved in any malicious act concerning his friend and consequently does not consider himself a suspect,” Lopez said in a statement.

Lopez further stated that Gardner and Giordano both entered Aruba from America and decided to go snorkeling in a shallow-water area called Baby Beach. However, the two Americans were soon pulled by a strong sea current which caused Giordano to tap on Gardner’s leg as a signal to swim back to shore.

However, when Giordano returned Gardner was not with him.

Lopez told the Associated Press that his client made an effort to search for Gardner through the waters before running to get help.

After the official search for the missing woman ended on Saturday, Giordano attempted to leave the island but was apprehended at the airport.

According to reports, Giordano and his first wife, Sharon Lynn Cohen, had a history of domestic disputes chronicled in Montgomery County Circuit Court records. Both Giordano and Cohen filed simultaneous protective orders against each other on Dec. 12, 2001.

View the original article here

Read More

Did Norway suspect have surgery to look more Aryan?

Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old Norwegian man who admitted killing 77 people in a bomb attack and shooting rampage, likely had work done to alter his appearance, an intelligence official suggested.

Janne Kristiansen, head of the Norwegian Police Security Service, told The Sunday Times of London that Breivik's facial structure likely was not natural.

"You do not have that Aryan look naturally in Norway," Kristiansen explained. "Hitler would have had him on posters. He has the perfect, classic Aryan face. He must have had a facelift."

Breivik, who denounced multiculturalism in his online manifesto, claims he carried out the attacks as part of a network of modern-day crusaders — the Knights Templar — to launch a revolution against a Europe spoiled by Muslim immigration, and that there are other cells ready to strike.

Story: Norway suspect's manifesto reveals delusion

According to a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph, Breivik bragged about having plastic surgery 10 years ago to a former school friend.

"I remember we were at a party," Breivik's ex-friend reportedly told the newspaper, "and he told me he had had his nose and chin operated on by a plastic surgeon in America. It was a bit weird, but he was hanging around at that time with a group of people obsessed by their bodies."

Reports of the surgery are emerging as more details of Breivik's life — and his plot — come to light.

According to the Associated Press , Breivik wrote that in his early 20s, he spent a year working alongside a mentor who schooled him in the ways of business and management. The man calls that a bizarre exaggeration, noting that the only thing he taught Breivik was how to record corporate minutes.

Those conflicts between Breivik's account and reality hint at a long thread of delusion winding throughout the 1,518-page manifesto he e-mailed to hundreds of people hours before he set out on a murderous rampage just over a week ago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More

Norway terror attacks suspect to appear in court

The man accused in Norway's twin terror attacks that killed at least 93 says he acted aloneReport: An attorney says the suspect wants to explain himself in court MondayInvestigators are still searching for victims of a bomb blast in OsloAuthorities also are searching waters around Utoya island for victims

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- A man who authorities say confessed to Norway's terror attacks is expected to make his first court appearance Monday, when, according to his attorney, he wants to "explain himself."

The court appearance comes as authorities continue to search for possible victims of Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo and a mass shooting at a political youth retreat on Utoya island. At least 93 people were killed and 96 were wounded in the attacks.

Police have not identified the suspect, but local television and newspaper reports say the man in custody is Anders Behring Breivik.

Attorney Geir Lippestad, who claimed to represent Breivik, told Norwegian TV2 that the suspect feels the terrorist attacks were "horrible," but "in his head (they) were necessary."

During the TV2 interview late Saturday, Lippestad said his client "is ready to explain himself" at Monday's court hearing.

Whether the suspect will be allowed to address the Norwegian court and under what, if any, circumstances is not immediately known.

CNN's attempts to reach Lippestad have been unsuccessful.

The 32-year-old Norwegian has told investigators he acted alone and was not aided in the planning, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday. But authorities have not ruled out that others may have been involved or helped him along the way, he said.

Sponheim said there has been "no progress" in ascertaining what the suspect's motive might have been. But he said that investigators were studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.

The document rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."

The author of the document identifies himself as Breivik and indicates he is from Norway. CNN could not independently verify that Breivik wrote the document, and Norwegian authorities would not confirm that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto, saying it was part of their investigation.

Authorities allege that the man in custody killed seven people Friday by setting off a car bomb in downtown Oslo that targeted government buildings, then traveled 20 miles to Utoya island and killed at least 86 teens and young adults in an ambush at a political youth retreat.

The suspect was carrying a considerable amount of ammunition when he surrendered to authorities, Sponheim told reporters.

Investigators will conduct autopsies over the next few days, Sponheim said, and the identities of the victims will be released once all the next-of-kin have been notified. The death toll -- which rose to 93 on Sunday after a person succumbed to injuries from the mass shooting -- could increase, police say.

At least four people have not been accounted for around Utoya island, with investigators searching the waters nearby for victims who may have drowned trying to escape the shooter.

Authorities are also still trying to determine how many people died in the Oslo bombing, where the explosion badly damaged several government buildings as well as the majority Labour Party office.

They are also hunting for new evidence.

On Sunday, police raided a property the suspect owned in the eastern Oslo area of Slettelokka looking for explosives.

"We were there with dogs but found nothing of any value as evidence," Sponheim said.

Police said Sunday that the area around the blast site would remain cordoned off, but members of the public in the area were not at risk.

In addition to the dead, at least 96 people were wounded in the attacks -- 30 in the blast and 66 in the mass shooting, Sponheim said.

Doctors at Oslo University Hospital Sunday were treating 31 patients injured in the terror attacks, 18 of whom were critically or seriously injured, Oslo University Hospital spokesman Jo Heldaas told CNN.

CNN's Michael Holmes, Erin McLaughlin, Chelsea J. Carter and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More

Police: Suspect in Norway attacks says he acted alone

Norway suspect allegedly posts videoNEW: Authorities say they have not established the suspect's motiveInvestigators are still searching waters around Utoya island for victimsThe man accused in Norway's twin terror attacks that killed at least 93 says he acted alonePolice are looking into a 1,500-page manifesto purportedly written by the suspect

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- The man accused of killing at least 93 people in Norway has said he carried out the bombing and mass shooting, authorities said Sunday, as an ashen-faced and openly weeping King Harald V led the nation in mourning.

The suspect has not pleaded guilty, and said he acted alone with no accomplice, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday.

"There is no progress on the question of what (his) motive was," Sponheim said, but he said investigators were studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.

The document, apparently compiled over a period of nine years, rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."

The author of the document identifies himself as Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect in the Norwegian terrorist attacks. CNN could not independently verify that Breivik wrote the document, and Norwegian authorities would not confirm that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto, saying it was part of their investigation.

Police have not identified the suspect, but local television and newspaper reports say the man in custody is Breivik, 32.

Authorities allege that he set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo on Friday, then ambushed an island political youth retreat in a shooting spree that left at least 86 dead. The suspect was still carrying a considerable amount of ammunition when he surrendered to authorities, Sponheim told reporters.

Police raised the official death toll from the twin attacks to 93 after a person wounded in the shootings died Sunday. That number could increase, they said, as investigators continue searching waters around the island for victims who may have drowned trying to escape the shooter. At least four people have not been accounted for from the shooting.

Authorities were also still trying to determine how many people died in Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo, where the explosion badly damaged a number of government buildings as well as the majority Labour Party office.

The investigation continued Sunday as memorial shrines with flowers and candles dotted the city's streets and Norwegians gathered at a cathedral in the capital to mourn the victims of the attacks.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the attacks "incomprehensible."

"Soon, names and photographs will be released. The enormity of the evilness will surface in all its horror, and that will be a new test for us all," he said.

Attorney Geir Lippestad, who claimed to represent Breivik, told TV2 late Saturday that his client "is ready to explain himself" on Monday when it is anticipated he will make his first court appearance. Breivik believed the terrorist attacks were "horrible," but "in his head (they) were necessary," Lippestad said.

CNN was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach Lippestad for comment.

While they have arrested only one suspect, Sponheim said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that someone else was involved in the shooting on the island. Statements from witnesses to the mass shooting "make it uncertain if it was more than one person," Sponheim said.

A police raid searching for explosives on property the suspect owned in the eastern Oslo area of Slettelokka Sunday did not turn up any leads, he said.

"We were there with dogs but found nothing of any value as evidence," Sponheim said.

Authorities Saturday were searching for bodies of victims in the bomb attack in downtown Oslo.

On Sunday police said the area around the blast site would remain cordoned off, but members of the public in the area were not at risk.

Seven people have been confirmed dead from the bomb attack. Police said that the explosive was in a car.

At least 97 people were wounded in the attacks -- 30 in the blast and 67 in the mass shooting, Sponheim said. That total includes the person who died Sunday.

Investigators will conduct autopsies over the next few days, Sponheim said, and the identities of the victims will be released once all the next-of-kin have been notified.

Doctors at Oslo University Hospital Sunday were treating 31 patients injured in the terror attacks -- 18 of whom were critically or seriously injured, Oslo University Hospital spokesman Jo Heldaas told CNN.

On Saturday, an employee at a Norwegian agricultural cooperative told CNN that the man identified in media reports as the suspect bought six tons of fertilizer from her company in May.

Oddmy Estenstad, of Felleskjopet Agr, said she did not think the order was strange at the time because the suspect has a farm, but after Friday's explosion in Norway's capital, Oslo, she called police because she knew the material can be used to make bombs.

"We are very shocked that this man was connected to our company," said Estenstad. "We are very sad about what happened."

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday offered his "fervent prayers for the victims and families, invoking God's peace upon the dead and divine consolation upon those who suffer."

"At this time of national grief he prays that all Norwegians will be spiritually united in a determined resolve to reject the ways of hatred and conflict and to work together fearlessly in a shaping a future of mutual respect, solidarity and freedom from for coming generations," according to a statement released by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on behalf of the pope.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed U.S. solidarity with Norway.

"The United States strongly condemns any kind of terrorism no matter where it comes from or who perpetuates it, and this tragedy strikes right at the heart of the soul of a peaceful people," she said in a statement.

CNN's Michael Holmes, Erin Mclaughlin, Chelsea J. Carter, Jim Boulden, Laura Smith-Spark, Joe Sterling, Moni Basu, Chelsea Bailey, Claudia Rebaza and Cynthia Wamwayi contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More