'djihadistes francaises', brought to you by the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure, in co-operation with Mossad
Merah, who was shot in the head in a standoff with police, killed three Jewish children, a rabbi and three French soldiers. The 23-year-old Toulouse-born jihadist was holed up in his apartment for 32 hours before a police sniper's bullet ended the siege.
Described by his neighbors as the quiet man next door, Mohammed Merah's deeds shook the country and he boasted of having brought France "to its knees." He said his only regret was that he was not able to kill more people, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins reported.
Adding to the fears in France that such attacks may be repeated it has been revealed that some 85 French nationals have undergone training in the Taliban's Pakistan stronghold of North Waziristan in the past three years.
Comment: Yes, it did not help prevent the tragedy because it was never intended that Merah be stopped (assuming that he really did receive all this training in Pakistan in the first place). It's clear that the French intelligence services are sheep-dipping would-be 'jihadists' in order to create the 'terror threat' they need to justify their crackdown. It's Gladio all over again.