The suspected murderer of four Jews at a school in Toulouse and three French paratroopers has been confirmed dead in gunfire with police.
French police raided a building that Mohammed Merah had been holed up in since 3am on Wednesday morning. Not having heard anything from Merah overnight, despite a series of explosions aimed at pressuring him to surrender, they threw stun grenades into the apartment at about 10.30am.
There was no response and when police entered initially there was no sign of Merah, but he emerged from another room armed with a submachine gun. After shooting at police he jumped out of a window, still shooting, and was found dead on the ground below.
According to Interior Minister Claude Gueant, two officers were wounded during the exchange of fire.
