10 years since the Merah attacks. A look back at the ten days that shook Toulouse
By David Saint-Sernin
Published on
On March 11, 2022, ten years ago to the day, mohamed merah assassinated Imad Ben Ziaten in the Montaudran district in Toulouse. Then, on March 15, the “scooter killer” killed two other soldiers in Montauban, Mohamed Legouad, 24, and Corporal Abel Chennouf, 25, before ending his devastating action with the tragedy in Toulouse. On Monday March 19, Jonathan Sandler, 30, and his two children, Arieh, 5, and Gabriel, 4, and Myriam Monsonego, 7, were murdered on the grounds of the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school.
After being hunted down, “the scooter killer” was finally killed during an interminable siege of 30 hours, epilogue of ten days during which Toulouse trembled. Story.
Sunday March 11, 2012 in Toulouse: a killer on a scooter kills a soldier
Sunday, March 11, 2012, it is around 4 p.m. when Imad Ben Ziaton, 30 years old, a non-commissioned officer of the 1uh Regiment of the parachutist train of Franzacal near Toulouse, in civilian clothes, parks his motorcycle on an esplanade, Montaudran district in Toulouse. The young man posted an ad on Le Bon Coin to sell his motorcycle, stating that he was a soldier.
A man arrives on a scooter and questions the paratrooper about his position, before drawing an 11.43 caliber weapon and shooting him at point-blank range in the head.
Thursday March 15: in Montauban, two paratroopers killed. A third is seriously injured.
Thursday March 15. It is around 2:15 p.m. when, at Montauban (Tarn and Garonne), three soldiers from the Parachute Engineer Regiment retired money at an ATM, a few meters from their barracks. The “scooter killer” then reappears and, equipped with the same automatic pistol, descends from his vehicle, pushes aside an elderly person in his path, goes around the three men and stands behind them before opening fire, aiming at them in the head. .
Private First Class Mohamed Legouad, 24 years old, and the corporal Abel Chennouf, 25 years old, are mortally wounded. The first class Loic Liber, 28 years old, is seriously injured. Unharmed, he remained quadriplegic following the attack. The assassin left his charger on the spot, got on his scooter and fled, shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The abandoned charger makes it possible to make the privilege between the two cases of Toulouse and Montauban.
Three soldiers died in the space of a few days in the same geographical area. The case is out of the ordinary. And incomprehensible at first. Fifty investigators, including terrorism experts, are investigating to shed light on these assassinations.
They quickly concentrated their efforts on Islamist circles.
Monday, March 19: in Toulouse, a teacher and three children murdered in front of a Jewish school.
Four days after the Montauban tragedy, it’s the Toulouse tragedy. Monday March 19, shortly before 8 a.m., rue Dalou, a man on a scooter opened fire in front of the Ozar Hatorah Jewish College-High School.
Coldly, he opened fire on a group of people gathered in front of the school with a submachine gun that jammed, then an 11.43 caliber weapon, the same that was used to kill the paratroopers.
A college professor, Jonathan Sandler, 30 years oldand her two children, Arieh, 5 years old, and Gabriel, 4 years old, are killed. The killer entered the courtyard and fired again, before fleeing on two wheels. The school principal’s daughter, Myriam Monsonego, 7 years old, is killed by a bullet to the head. A teenager, Aaron Bryan Bijaoui, 15 years old, is seriously injured.
Fear and misunderstanding
Toulouse is in shock. Fear and incomprehension are expressed in all mouths. “I am horrified by this abominable act” declares the mayor at the time, Pierre Cohen.
In an emergency, the City rearms its municipal police teams during the day. The carnival which must take place on Wednesday 21 is cancelled. Toulouse high schools are taking precautionary measures in front of their establishments.
The head of state at the time, Nicolas Sarkozy, then in the middle of the presidential campaign, goes down to Toulouse: “It’s a national tragedy”, he evokes. He replaces the Scarlet Vigipirate blueprint in the Midi-Pyrénées region, a first in France. 14 CRS companies are mobilized in the Pink City and in the Midi-Pyrénées region.
It is a gigantic manhunt that begins, led by 120 investigators. The Paris anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office announces that it has taken up the case and is opening “three investigations carried out for facts qualified as assassinations and attempted assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise”.
The inhabitants of Toulouse fall asleep in a city under siege against the scooter shooter, who has become public enemy number 1.
Tuesday March 20: Toulouse, a city in full psychosis
“Toulouse must continue to live”. While the killer is still at large, the mayor of Toulouse, Pierre Cohen, assures “that we must not lower our heads”. To reaffirm the values of “living together”, municipal elected officials from all sides and Toulouse residents gather in the Cour Henri IV for a minute of silence.
The Pink City is clearly slowing down, plunged into total amazement.
The soldiers, heavily armed, walk around town. An unprecedented image at the time when it is now part of our daily lives, following the attacks at Bataclan in 2015 and Nice in 2016.
At the beginning of the afternoon, after brewing 24,000 names in the counterintelligence files and carrying out hundreds of hearings, the police end up “housing” the “scooter killer” in a residential area of the city. Pink. It is Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old man, born in ToulouseMirail district and whose family lives in the Izards district.
The race against the clock is induced.
Wednesday, March 21: In Toulouse, the siege of Merah’s apartment begins
Mohammed Merah… Since October 2006, the young man has been the subject of a “warning” form from former general intelligence and in 2011 was included on a list of potentially dangerous activists.
On Wednesday March 21, around 1 a.m., Merah called the editor-in-chief of France 24 to claim her actions and her affiliation with the jihadist cause and Al-Qaeda. He specifies that the videos of the assassinations that he filmed with a GoPro camera will soon be found on the Internet.
At 3:10 a.m., Merah’s apartment, located rue du Sergent-Vigné in Toulouse, was surrounded. The RAID is on site.
A failed first assault
Around 3:20 am, the RAID attacked. The response is immediate. Merah fires several times at the police while the building is still inhabited by 35 people. After this volley of bullets, a negotiation phase begins. 300 deployed police delineate a large security perimeter around the neighborhood. The neighborhood is evacuated.
At the same time, Mohammed Merah’s mother and brother were arrested. The noose tightens but Merah does not surrender.
At 10:50 a.m., discussions between the police and Merah ceased. The building is then evacuated of its inhabitants. The mediation attempt fails: around 10:45 p.m., the killer breaks contact with the Raid.
The young man who gloried in having “always acted alone” and expressed no regret other than “not having caused more victims”, enters “into a logic of rupture” and declares that he wants to “die with arms hand”, according to the Minister of the Interior.
Thursday, March 22: The Final Assault
From midnight to 6:40 a.m., the police regularly detonate powerful charges near his windows to destabilize Merah. Electricity was cut in the neighborhood.
It is finally at 11.25 a.m. that the Raid men enter the apartment, through the door and the windows. They throw three grenades to react to the suspect, who has not given any sign of life for several hours.
At 11:30 a.m., flushed out by a camera, Mohamed Merah comes out of the bathroom where he had taken refuge, armed with a Colt 45, and fires a burst of “thirty cartridges”, according to the Raid.
Five-minute long shootout
The madman, equipped with a bulletproof vest, rushes at the police across the apartment then jumps out of the window while continuing to shoot at the police who retaliate and hit him with about twenty bullets, arms and legs.
He is found dead on the ground, dressed in a djellaba covered with a bulletproof vest, his Colt 45 and chargers resting next to him.
The shooting lasted five minutes. The epilogue of 30 hours of siege…
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