French police arrested about 20 suspected Islamists in dawn raids on Friday, most of them in the hometown of an extremist who was shot dead by police last week after a killing spree. Agents from France’s DCRI domestic intelligence agency swooped in to carry out the arrests, most of them in the southern city of Toulouse a day after Al Qaeda-inspired gunman Mohamed Merah was buried there, sources close to the investigation said. T h e a r re s t s w e re “no t directly linked” to the Merah investigation, but were aimed at dismantling Islamist networks, one source said. Some of the arrests also targetted people in the western city of Nantes. The arrests came a day after Merah, who was shot dead by a police sniper on March 22 at the end of a 32-hour siege at his flat in Toulouse, was buried in the city under heavy police watch. The 23-year-old had shot dead three soldiers, and three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in a killing spree that shocked the country. The man branded a "monster" by French leaders was laid t o r e s t i n To u l o u s e ' s Cornebarrieu cemetery after his family's homeland Algeria refused to accept the body, citing security concerns. French authorities have charged M e r a h ' s b r o t h e r Abdelkader with complicity in the attacks and said they were looking for other accomplices.
Abdelkader Merah was charged with helping his sibling steal the powerful Yamaha scooter used in the shootings and police have said they were seeking a third person who may have been involved in the theft. Merah recorded his killings with a camera strapped to his body and police have said an accomplice may have been involved in mailing a montage of the videos to Al-Jazeera. The video was reportedly sent to the channel's Paris bureau from outside Toulouse w h i l e Me r a h w a s a l r e a d y besieged in his flat by police.
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