2012 Midi-Pyrénées shootings
| 2012 Toulouse and Montauban shootings | |
|---|---|
|
Location of Toulouse and Montauban, France
|
|
| Location |
Midi-Pyrénées region, France: |
| Date | 11 March 2012 – 22 March 2012 |
| Target | French soldiers and Jewish civilians |
|
Attack type
|
Spree shooting, school shooting, siege |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 8 (including the perpetrator) |
|
Non-fatal injuries
|
5 |
| Perpetrator | Mohammed Merah |
| Motive | Extremist Islamic beliefs, opposition to war in Afghanistan, antisemitism |
| Mohammed Merah | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
10 October 1988 Toulouse, France |
| Died | 22 March 2012 (aged 23) Toulouse, France |
| Citizenship | France |
| Occupation | Mechanic |
| Organization | Al-Qaeda (disputed) |
| Parent(s) | Zoulika Aziri (mother) Mohamed Benalel Merah (father) |
Midi-Pyrénées region, France:
The Toulouse and Montauban shootings were a series of three gun attacks committed by one man named Mohammed Mera from March 11 to 19, 2012, targeting first French Army soldiers and later children and a teacher from a Jewish school in the cities of Montauban and Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France. In total, the shooter killed seven people and wounded five, four seriously. The shooter was shot and killed by police after a 30-hour siege at his apartment in Toulouse.
The first attack occurred on 11 March; a French Muslim paratrooper was shot dead in Toulouse. A second attack on 15 March killed two uniformed French Muslim soldiers and seriously injured another in a Montauban shopping centre. On 19 March, four people, including three children, were killed at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school in Toulouse. Four other persons were wounded.
Thereafter, France raised its Vigipirate, the terror alert system, to the highest level in the Midi-Pyrénées region and surrounding departements. The United Nations, many governments around the world, and the French Council of the Muslim Faith condemned the attacks.
Police identified the shooter as Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old French petty criminal of Algerian descent who was born and raised in Toulouse. He was killed by police after a 30-hour siege at his family's apartment there, during which he wounded three police. Merah reportedly attacked French Army personnel because of the army's participation in the war in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda. During the siege, Merah admitted antisemitic motives as well, saying he had attacked the Jewish school because "The Jews kill our brothers and sisters in Palestine."
...
Wikipedia