TOULOUSE, France - Riot police set off explosions outside an apartment building early today in an effort to force the surrender of a gunman who boasted of bringing France "to its knees" with an al-Qaida-linked terror spree that killed seven people.
Hundreds of heavily armed police, some in body armor, surrounded the five-story building in Toulouse where Mohamed Merah, 24, had been holed up since the predawn hours of Wednesday.
As midnight approached, three explosions were heard and orange flashes lit up the night sky near the building. An Interior Ministry official said Merah had gone back on a previous pledge to turn himself in - and that police blew up the shutters outside the apartment window to pressure him to surrender.
Sporadic blasts and bursts of gunfire rang out throughout the night, though officials insisted no full-out assault was under way. "It's not as simple as that. We are waiting," the Toulouse prosecutor, Michel Valet, told The Associated Press.
People are also reading…
Authorities said the shooter, a French citizen of Algerian descent, had been to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he claimed to have received training from al-Qaida.
They said he told negotiators he killed a rabbi and three young children at a Jewish school on Monday and three French paratroopers last week to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and to protest the French army's involvement in Afghani-stan, as well as a government ban last year on face-covering Islamic veils.
"He has no regrets, except not having more time to kill more people, and he boasts that he has brought France to its knees," Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a news conference.
French authorities - like others in Europe - have long been concerned about "lone-wolf" attacks by young, Internet-savvy militants who self-radicalize online since they are harder to find and track. Still, it was the first time a radical Islamic motive has been ascribed to killings in France in years.
Merah espoused a radical brand of Islam and had been to the Afghanistan-Pakistan region twice and to the Pakistani militant stronghold of Waziristan for training, Molins said.
He said Merah had plans to kill another soldier, prompting the police raid.
The standoff began after a police attempt at about 3 a.m. local time Wednesday to detain Merah erupted into a firefight. Two police were wounded.
As darkness fell, police cut electricity and gas to the building, then quietly closed in to wait out Merah.
Authorities were "counting on his great fatigue and weakening," said Didier Martinez of the SGP police union, adding the siege could go on for hours. Streetlights were also cut, making Merah more visible to officers with night-vision goggles in case of an assault.
The gunman's brother and mother were detained early Wednesday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has played up nationalist themes in his bid for a second term, vowed to defend France.
"Terrorism will not be able to fracture our national community," Sarkozy declared Wednesday on national television before heading to funeral services for the paratroopers killed last week in Montauban, near Toulouse.
The suspect repeatedly promised to turn himself in, then halted negotiations. Cedric Delage, regional secretary for a police union, said police were prepared to storm the building if he did not surrender.
During the standoff, police evacuated the five-story building, escorting residents out using the roof and firetruck ladders.
Those slain at the Jewish school, all of French-Israeli nationality, were buried in Israel on Wednesday as relatives sobbed inconsolably. The bodies of Rabbi Jonathan Sandler; his sons Arieh, 5, and Gabriel, 3; and 8-year-old Myriam Monsenego had been flown there earlier in the day.
At the funeral, Myriam's eldest brother, Avishai, in his 20s, wailed and called to God to give his parents the strength "to endure the worst trial that can be endured."
