Toulouse shooter may have visited Israel
An American source in Kandahar claims Merah’s passport shows he went to Syria and Iraq and tried to get to Palestinian territories
Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.
Slain Toulouse terrorist Mohamed Merah had Israeli entry and exit stamps in his passport, a senior American official serving in Afghanistan told French newspaper Le Monde.
According to the official, Afghan police searched Merah’s apartment in November 2010 and examined the passport before replacing it. The passport showed that Merah, who was shot dead by French police during a raid on his home Thursday, had previously visited Israel, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq.
French authorities said the killer of seven had been to Afghanistan and the Pakistani militant stronghold of Waziristan in 2007, where he claimed to have received training from al-Qaeda. He was later imprisoned by Afghan troops in Kandahar.
The American source reportedly said that Merah “did enter or tried to enter” the Palestinian territories.
Merah’s reported entry to Israel is further complicated by the fact that he was on the US’s no-fly list, according to an American intelligence official.
The Shin Bet is investigating whether, and if so, how, the Toulouse terrorist, who was a known member of a radical Salafist Muslim group, managed to enter Israel.
Interior Ministry officials said Thursday that no one entered Israel under the name Mohamed Merah, and concluded that if indeed he did, he must have done so with a false passport.
The Times of Israel Community.