Tel Aviv: The bodies of three children
and a rabbi who were shot dead at a Jewish school in France
arrived in Israel on Wednesday ahead of a burial service in
Jerusalem, an airport source said.
The bodies of 30-year-old Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, his
sons Arieh, 5, and Gabriel, 4, and seven-year-old Miriam
Monsonego arrived at Ben Gurion international airport near Tel
Aviv shortly after 5:45 am (0915 IST) on an El Al flight from
Paris, he said.
The plane, which was also carrying French Foreign
Minister Alain Juppe and some 50 relatives and friends of the
victims, touched down shortly after dawn, just two days after
the four were shot dead in a cold-blooded attack at a Jewish
school in Toulouse.
France has launched a massive manhunt for the gunman
behind Monday's shooting attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse
in southwest France, with the killer believed to be
responsible for two other deadly shootings which left three
soldiers dead in the same area.
As the plane touched down, elite French police mounted
a pre-dawn raid on a property in Toulouse where a 24-year-old
man claiming to be linked to al-Qaeda was holed up inside a
building, sources close to the investigation said.
French investigators believe the gunman who was
responsible for the school attack also killed three soldiers
in two separate shootings in the area last week.
In Monday's attack, the shooter opened fire on a group
of parents and children outside the Ozar Hatorah school in
Toulouse, killing Sandler and his two sons in the street.
The gunman then ran into the school grounds and shot
dead the seven-year-old daughter of the school director.
Another student, a 17-year-old boy, was critically injured in
the attack.
The victims were shot at point blank range and the
killer escaped on a motorbike.
French investigators believe the gunman who was
responsible for the school attack also killed three soldiers
in two other attacks last week. (AFP)
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 14:49