France: 3 dead in shooting outside Jewish school
Unknown assailant opens fire on Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse, kills two children, one adult; several others wounded
AFP
Published: 03.19.12, 10:27 / Israel News
Terror in Toulouse: An unknown assailant opened fire on a Jewish school in Toulouse Monday, killing at least three people and injuring five.
According to initial details, a man riding on a motorcycle opened fire on the Ozar Hatorah School at arond 8:10 am, as the students were arriving for the school day, and then fled the scene.
The school's rabbi and the headmaster's daughter are believed to be among the fatalities. Three of the injured are in serious condition.
הירי בוצע בשעת פתיחת הלימודים. בית הספר "אוצר התורה"
The school (Screenshot)
ZAKA's Paris headquarters have sent delegates to the school to assist authorities.
French Interior Minister Claude Gueant is making his way to the scene and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is also said to be making his way to Toulouse. Paris has ordered to increase surveillance and protection of Jewish institutions across France.
Patrick Rouimi, of the school's parent teacher association, said that the shooter fired on people waiting at a pickup point near the school.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem issued a statement saying that Israel was "horrified" by the attack.
Chief Rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim expressed the Jewish community's horror at the incident as well.
The shooting happened in the same region where a gunman on a motorbike opened fire on three uniformed paratroopers at a bank machine Thursday, killing two and critically wounding the other.
The attack in the town of Montauban occurred not far from the soldiers' barracks. Four days earlier, a gunman on a motorbike shot and killed another paratrooper in Toulouse, about 30 miles away.
Authorities said at the time that forensic analysis showed that the same weapon was used in the shootings in Montauban and Toulouse.
France has Europe's largest Jewish community, estimated at up to 700,000 people.
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