Toulouse Killer’s Path to Radicalism a Bitter Puzzle
By DAN BILEFSKY
NYT
TOULOUSE, France — During the long standoff that ultimately ended his life, a boastful Mohammed Merah told law enforcement officials that he had been trained by Al Qaeda. He described being driven to kill his seven victims in a shooting rampage that terrorized this city by his resentment over the fate of the Palestinians, and France’s military presence in Afghanistan and ban on the full Muslim veil.
Little more than a week later, the French authorities say they have grown doubtful of his claims to terrorist ties, though questions remain about how Mr. Merah, an unemployed 23-year-old of Algerian descent, acquired a large cache of firearms and $26,000 in cash.
Their early investigations — and the impressions of many here — suggest that his personal angst was at least as important to his evolution into a self-styled jihadist as any terrorist network that might have been available to him, either here in the grittier neighborhoods of this picturesque red-brick city or in jail, where he spent time for purse snatching and other petty crimes.
Mr. Merah was buried Thursday in Toulouse after Algeria refused to accept his body for burial there, citing security reasons, said Abdallah Zekri, of the French Muslim Council.
(More here.)
NYT
TOULOUSE, France — During the long standoff that ultimately ended his life, a boastful Mohammed Merah told law enforcement officials that he had been trained by Al Qaeda. He described being driven to kill his seven victims in a shooting rampage that terrorized this city by his resentment over the fate of the Palestinians, and France’s military presence in Afghanistan and ban on the full Muslim veil.
Little more than a week later, the French authorities say they have grown doubtful of his claims to terrorist ties, though questions remain about how Mr. Merah, an unemployed 23-year-old of Algerian descent, acquired a large cache of firearms and $26,000 in cash.
Their early investigations — and the impressions of many here — suggest that his personal angst was at least as important to his evolution into a self-styled jihadist as any terrorist network that might have been available to him, either here in the grittier neighborhoods of this picturesque red-brick city or in jail, where he spent time for purse snatching and other petty crimes.
Mr. Merah was buried Thursday in Toulouse after Algeria refused to accept his body for burial there, citing security reasons, said Abdallah Zekri, of the French Muslim Council.
(More here.)
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