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>> and now "bbc world news." >> police sources and france say the man suspected of shooting seven people is dead air his apartment was stormed in toulouse. three police were reported wounded in the exchange of gunfire during the operation. this is the scene live outside of the suspect's house. a general strike in portugal against the country's cost austerity measures, as the head of the european bank says the worst is over. hello, welcome to bbc world news. toulouse, you live to because there is some sort of press conference going on there at the moment with a statement,

it seems, about the latest situation in toulouse. >> but he refused to surrender. and if he was caught, he would kill policemen. today, the decision was taken to arrest him. at half past 10, grenades were used like last night. we had no reaction coming from him. the officers decided to take the decision to go inside the apartment. they entered by the door. they stormed the door. and also they use windows to get in. -- used windows to get in.

technical means were used to minimize the danger and the threats. techniques were used to inspect the rooms inside the apartment. in the front of the apartment, there was no sign of his presence. he stayed in his bedroom. at the time, we decided to inspect the bathroom and that is when the killer came out of the bathroom. he was shooting violently. but the shots were frequent and severe. even people used to such stands, they say they have never seen such ferocity. the policeman tried to protect themselves and he tried to protect himself. but at the end, mohammed merah

jumped through the window with one weapon in his hand while still shooting. he was found dead on the ground. regarding the storming operation, i would like to tell you the professionalism and the extreme dedication -- we have two injured policemen. one was injured in the leg. the other one is under shock, but doctors are not worried about his health. i would like to say -- to pay homage to all the police services who were taking part in this operation. the exemplary inquiry that was conducted by the prosecutor's office authority. the officers managed to identify the killer.

everybody knows that he was on the path of a criminal operation. and now we can assure the population of toulouse and everybody in toulouse. thank you very much. [in distinct chatter -- indistinct chatter] >> we just have a press conference from the present -- prosecutor. i am richard dalton and we have been covering this story the past 24 hours. the siege, which began in the early hours of wednesday morning, went on. as we heard from the prosecutor, the decision taken at 10:30 a.m. this morning to come in. mohammed merah, they knew he was inside the apartment. he had said earlier -- or had

given no sign that he would surrender. but it seems that the police had thought or there were indications he might not have been alive when they went into the apartment. but then they came up against this for roche's gunfire and an extraordinary dramatic -- ferocious gunfire and extraordinary dramatic ending, with him jumping out the window and still shooting and falling to his death from a window. it is not clear if he sustained injuries himself or not at this stage. a dramatic ending to this siege which began well over 24 hours ago. let's have a report looking back at what happened from my colleague. >> this is the man who admitted to seven murders. he apparently told police he wished he could kill again.

mohammed merah, filmed by friends, joyriding in 2010, long before he became the focus of one of the biggest manhunts france had ever seen. >> he does not seek judicial any regret, other than he did not have more time to kill more people. he bragged that he brought france to its knees. >> overnight they tried to intimidate him with explosions, reported to have taken out of the main doors of his apartment and blown a hole in the wall. later, guns stop -- gunshots were heard, although it was not clear who was firing. >> during the night he had no lights, an actress, or gas. the explosions caused intense stress that kept him from sleeping. of course, sleeping means you recover and rest, and he did not get to rest. >> this morning, there had been further explosions. and exchanges of gunfire as

police stormed the building where mohammed merah was being holed up. several pollution -- policeman are reported to have been injured. within the last few minutes, we learned the man who killed in cold blood who promised to die with a weapon in his hand, is himself dead. caroline holly, bbc news -- caroline hawley, bbc news. >> we know also from the prosecutor that at least two of the police commandos were injured in this raid. but it sounds like they are not in a serious condition, their lives not under threat. and since this intense outburst of gunfire, which we heard here, we certainly have seen the come on those -- commandos taking off their helmets and obviously looking relaxed. it is very clear that the siege

was at an end. but ambulances are there with stretchers to take away the injured and presumably the body of mohammed merah. i think we can now join our colleagues in paris. hugh, can you tell us if there are any reactions from politicians about what happened to? >> not yet, but of course they would have been watching this closely. we saw the interior minister giving the briefing just five minutes ago. there will be great relief that it is over, of course. the expressed wish of the political class is that mohammed merah would be captured alive. it was in everyone's interest that he be put on trial and made to face charges and explain himself. but, given the psychology of this man, it is not exactly surprising that it has come to this mylan -- violent end. that he was not the suicide

type, but what he had done it is not commit suicide but the people to kill him. that is what he wanted to do. last hole act in saying that he would surrender, -- the whole act in saying he would surrender himself, it was not true -- the final showdown being inevitable. he was in that bathrooms silently, to the point that authorities speculated he killed himself, but he was just waiting, playing this movie in his mind of the man who confronts his nemesis at the last gate and falls to bullets. it came to that. >> the interior minister said they wanted to capture him alive. do you think in some ways they will be disappointed that they fail to take him alive? and presumably they would have

been able to gain more intelligence from him and he would have had to stand trial for the murder of the seven people. >> i am quite sure there will be some frustration about that, but i don't think there will be fingers pointed. there is no suggestion for a minute that anything had gone wrong. clearly the desirable outcome is that he would be captured, but i know they will say that in situations like this you don't take any risks and you go in with full force. you don't ask special forces to go in with kid gloves. they are not trained to do that. why would they be trained to do that? this was inevitable. >> of course, this has come as campaigning resumes for the presidential election. the first round is just a month away. what is your assessment of the

political implications of miss on the presidential race? >> that is obviously the question everyone is asking. one day from now things will less settled down and politics will resume. it is a perfectly legitimate question, despite the horror and a motion -- and emotion. i think in the immediate term we will see a big boost for nicolas sarkozy. it does not necessarily mean it will last through to the election but he handled themselves i think with great aplomb. he was being very presidential. there were moving pictures of him in the funeral holding the hand of one of the soldiers killed. and it was the general point -- crises like this, law and order issues -- will generally favor of the right.

not seeing anyone on the left has done anything wrong, but this will favor the sitting president if he conducts himself with proper presidential grace and authority, and he has. but who knows? it is four weeks away. anything can happen. he may say something silly. but i would say in that immediate term my guess is there will be a big boost to his ratings. >> thank you very much, indeed. i think we can join thomas on the phone -- thomas whittington, a defense analyst. the raid obviously went ahead and went -- ended up with mohammed merah being killed. you'd think it was inevitable given the fact how long the siege -- do you think it was inevitable given the fact along the siege was going on?

>> hindsight gives you 20/20 vision, but i was thinking last night that there was every possibility that he may choose to come out. or he may not choose to come out, rather, and kill himself in the process. i was talking to colleagues in law enforcement and the intelligence communities, and our thought was, what did he have to surrender to? it was a tricky situation. he did not have any hostages. he was not demanding the release of prisoners. he did not issue political demands, apart from a vague explanation for his actions. my initial thoughts after that was, well, really if he surrenders, he does not gain any further notoriety. all he has to look forward to is a lifetime in a very tough french jail at a very young age. and by taking his own life or by buying in the process -- we are all familiar with how some of

these attacks, these people are inspired by radical ideology, want this altman and final and that gives them the notoriety and possession of their actions -- this ultimate and final actions that give them notoriety. >> is it your thought, when the police came in, they thought mohammed merah rouse was already dead, perhaps he committed suicide, and they had not expected they would come under this very intense gunfire from him? >> actually, that is not my thought. having seen the equivalent of the french national police anti- terrorist unit, having seen them in action, one thing i am aware of is in planning what these eventualities, every possibility they can possibly think of is taken into account.

there is endless reversing, and list brainstorming about what possibly could go wrong -- endless rehearsing and endless brainstorming. of the possibility he could be dead, a live, injured, disoriented, any of the above, could have been a factor. i did not think they will -- were caught unaware. these can end horribly wrong. a look at the besl seaan, the moscow theatre -- look at the beslan siege, the moscow theatre. this is a deeply impressive force, but there is always a risk. >> french president nicolas sarkozy is going to hold some kind of news conference at 12:00 noon local time, my understanding. and also, of course, we have heard from the interior

minister. let us hear a little bit more of what he had to say just in the past hour. >> today, the decision was taken to arrest him at half past 10. grenades were used, like the ones we used last night, inside his apartment. we had no reaction coming from him. the officers decided to take the decision to go inside the apartment. they entered by the door. they stormed the door of. and also, they use windows to get in. and we checked the windows last night. technical means were used to minimize the danger and the threat.

techniques were used to inspect the ruins inside the apartment. the front of the apartment -- there was no sign of his presence. he stayed in his bathroom. at the time, we decided to inspect the bathroom. that is when the killer came out of the back room. he was shooting violently. the shots were frequent and severe. and even people who are used to such a thing is, they said they had never seen such ferocity. the policeman tried to protect themselves and he tried to protect himself. but at the end, mohammed merah ought jumped through the window with one weapon in his hand while still shooting. he was found dead on the ground.

regarding the storming operation, i would like to tell you the professionalism and extreme dedication -- we have two injured policemen. one was injured in the leg. the other one is under shock. but doctors are not worried about his health. i would like to say -- to pay homage and respect to all of the police services who were taking part in this operation. and the exemplary inquiry conducted at the prosecutor's office authority. it was done in that some time. and the officers managed to identify the killer. and everybody knows that he was on the path of a criminal operation. and now we can assure the population of toulouse and

everybody in toulouse. thank you very much. >> obviously it has been a very traumatic morning here. we were at this position when it all began. first of all, we heard three explosions, which we now know where grenades used by the police special forces to get into mohammed merah's apartment. and then not long after that, an extraordinary outburst of gunfire, which was filmed by of the live camera. we could just watch and listen to that now. [gunfire] [rapid gunfire]

>> i am afraid we seem to have lost communication with richard, but a dramatic and bloody end to the siege which lasted more than 24 hours. mohammed merah now dead. extremely dramatic end to the siege, as we were hearing from the interior minister. they sent a video probe into the bathroom where he had been hiding out in his grand -- ground-floor apartment. but as soon as commandos died in, he started firing. he jumped through the bathroom

window, firing away the whole time. but then fell dead to the ground, having been killed by commandos. i think we can speak to our correspondent christian fraser who has been covering this for us. christian, a dramatic and bloody end to end a dramatic end of that was not without risk for those commandos. >> an extremely dramatic end. and just hearing details -- he was walking to the camera position where i am just around the corner from the apartment, and as he walked up the road it is clear he was still getting information from his officers. they stopped halfway up the road as the details were explained. when he came to the camera position, he laid out the extraordinary siege. it seems like the elite commando police unit have made their way into the apartment, presumably

using the fiber optic cameras, they were sifting through the apartment, the win room by room, trying to locate mohammed merah. there in mind, they have had negotiations with them -- had not had negotiations with him for six hours of day did not know if he was dead. whether the camera was under the bathroom door or they even got to the point, it is not sure. he then emerged from the bathroom, heavily armed, and there was a long and sustained one police source that we have details from on the friends wired said i had never seen anything like it. he came out with guns blazing. apparently he sort of stepped back in the platform and then try to get out of the window, still firing, and was found dead outside of the building. a huge, dramatic and. i think of the call of the character and psychological profile we heard -- stubborn, and defiant, ruthless to the end. >> yes, and has the apartment

now been cleared? there were fears he might have let booby trap devices. >> there was always a concern, and that is why they were going gingerly through the flat. it seems like they were in there for some time before the exchange. he was prepared. they knew he had a stash of weapons. they found weapons in his car yesterday. that is why they were being cautious throughout. i think, though, that may have been surprised about where he was and that he was still alive. as you have been hearing in some reports, maybe some policeman were injured. from this position, i can see two or three in the lenses that were on standby throughout, and suddenly from the back bay pulled out a gurney. in their war also firemen with fire extinguishers who went around -- there were also firemen with fire extinguishers

going around. i presume they have taken every precaution as they have gone through the flat to make sure no one else was injured. but from their point of view, i think the interior minister is satisfied the siege has been brought to a conclusion. and we will hear more about this later this afternoon from the president, who will speak to the nation are around 2:00 p.m. local time. >> we were hearing may be in 40 minutes in a tv address. what has the president's handling yen like in terms of public perception? we are four and a half weeks here before a presidential election year he had been trailing in the polls. is there a sense he has handled it well? >> he has long been the minister and president of law and order. he is a former interior minister. he had a close relationship with the police throughout his five

years in office. he has talked about immigration, integration and identity, so he is closely connected to the idea of a french identity and the threat of islamic terrorism. so, i don't know at the moment how he will come out of this. obviously there are big questions about the surveillance of this man was under, whether they should have spotted far earlier that a fundamentalist was on list and that he was able to accumulate those weapons -- but not a fundamentalist was on the loose. the intention was that it ended without further police have casualties. a question of maybe why they went in and maybe perhaps why they did not know he was still alive. it is too early to say. people might think we are senegal when we are talking about the deaths of seven people and an islamic terrorist,

thus we are talking about the election -- >> we have to leave it there. mohammed merah has been killed and the siege in france is at an end. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

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