Sarkozy puts region on highest alert

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday he was putting the country's southwestern region on its highest terror alert level after a shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse left four dead.

Sarkozy said the same gunman had attacked the school and last week shot three paratroopers, that it was "obvious" Monday's attack was anti-Semitic and he was suspending his re-election campaign until at least Wednesday.

Speaking after meeting of top security officials, Sarkozy said "exceptional security measures" would be taken in the Midi-Pyrenees region and that it was being put on "scarlet" terror alert, the highest possible level.

He said riot police units and national gendarmes would maintain security in the region "as long as this criminal has not been found".

"There are already 120 investigators in Toulouse. With the prime minister, I have asked the interior and defence ministers to go to Toulouse. The interior minister will coordinate the investigation and stay in place for as long as it takes," Sarkozy said.

The moves came after a killer shot dead three children and a teacher at a Jewish school Toulouse and police said the same gun and scooter had been used last week in the murders of three French paratroopers in the same area.

"We know that it is the same person, the same weapon that killed the soldiers, the children and the teacher," Sarkozy said, adding: "The anti-Semitic motive seems obvious."

"This odious act cannot remain unpunished. All means, absolutely all means available, will be committed to neutralise this criminal," he said.

Sarkozy also said he was temporarily putting aside his campaign for re-election in an April-May presidential vote. "I am suspending my participation in the election campaign at least until Wednesday," he said. (AFP)