School shooting suspect 'planned to kill' again

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy told religious community representatives the suspected Islamist gunman besieged in Toulouse had planned another attack on Wednesday, a Jewish leader said.

A police source also said the suspect, who has been identified as self-declared Islamist Mohamed Merah, planned to kill another soldier.

Nicole Yardeni, head of the CRIF Jewish group in the Midi-Pyrenees region, said Sarkozy had told them the shooter "already had a plan to kill again" and that "he planned to kill this morning".

The police source said the suspect had "told investigators this morning that he had decided to kill a soldier in Toulouse on Wednesday morning and had already identified the victim."

Sarkozy met with the Jewish representatives in a police station near where police were besieging the home of a 23-year-old suspected Islamist militant believed to be behind the killings of three soldiers last week and three children and a teacher at a Jewish school on Monday.

Sarkozy left the station without making any comments after the meeting and later arrived at a military barracks in nearby Montauban for a ceremony in honor of the three dead soldiers.

Authorities in Afghanistan confirmed that Merah had been arrested for bomb making in the lawless southern province of Kandahar in 2007 but escaped months later in a massive Taliban prison break.

Police removed other residents from the building and began evacuating other nearby homes. A police source had said earlier that authorities would not allow the siege to drag on indefinitely.

The president, on behalf of the nation, paid tribute to the country's law enforcement forces for their mobilization of tracking down the assailant.

Interior Minister Gueant told journalists Merah was a member of an ideological Islamic group in France.

Questions:

1. What is the name of the French president?

2. How old is the alleged gunmen?

3. When was Merah arrested in Kandahar?

Answers:

1. Nicolas Sarkozy.

2. 23.

3. 2007.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.