2 new arrests in French terror attack on Jewish school, soldiers

By Angela Charlton

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS — A man and a woman were arrested Tuesday in southern France on suspicion of links to an Islamic militant who killed Jewish schoolchildren and French paratroopers earlier this year, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.

The arrests, the first in the case since March, may throw new light on suspicions that Mohamed Merah did not act alone in the attacks, which left seven dead and terrified France. Merah was later killed in a shootout with police.

One of Merah’s brothers, Abdelkader, is already in custody on preliminary charges of complicity in the killings. Their oldest brother is among those who have suggested a third man may have played a role.

The man arrested Tuesday was picked up in the city of Albi in southern France, and the woman — his ex-girlfriend — was arrested in Toulouse, the prosecutor’s office said. It released no other details.

An official with the prosecutor’s office said the man is the key suspect. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

The Sipa news agency said the man is suspected of helping the Merah brothers obtain the scooter used in the attacks.

Merah told police during a standoff before his death that he carried out the killings of three paratroopers, three Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi over a nine-day period in March.

Merah had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan and was under loose surveillance by the country’s security services, which have since acknowledged lapses and promised to tighten up procedures.

While authorities initially described him as a “lone-wolf” terrorist, lawyers for victims’ families were skeptical.

“We know that he didn’t kill alone,” lawyer Patrick Klugman, who represents some victims’ families, said on LCI television. “We want everyone who helped him, who hid him….brought before justice.”

Samia Maktouf, lawyer for the father of one of the paratroopers, told Sipa that she is expecting more arrests of suspected accomplices “in France and abroad.”

07:34ET 04-12-12