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CRIME

Alps murder: one-time suspect kills himself

In the latest unsettling twist in the unsolved murder of a British-Iraqi in Annecy, a former cop once looked at as a possible suspect has killed himself because he felt 'accused'.

Published: 4 June 2014 08:48 CEST
Alps murder: one-time suspect kills himself
A former cop (not pictured here) questioned in the murder of a British-Iraqi family has killed himself. Photo: Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP

A former French Legionnaire, questioned in the 2012 murder of four people in the French Alps, committed suicide on Tuesday, police said.

Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud told AFP, confirming information reported in the French media, that the former soldier had "left a note of six or seven pages in which he said he was disturbed by the questioning. He felt accused".

"It does not make this the main or sole reason for his action," added Maillaud.

The unnamed former Legionnaire and paratrooper, who was 50 years old, was found dead at his home in Ugine on Tuesday afternoon, apparently shot dead.

An investigation into his death has been launched.

Saad al-Hilli, a 50-year-old Briton of Iraqi origin, was gunned down along with his 47-year-old wife Iqbal and her 74-year-old mother in a woodland car park in the hills above Lake Annecy in the French Alps on September 5,  2012.

A French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, was killed after apparently stumbling upon the scene.

The unnamed former soldier had been questioned "for two hours in April 2013", in regard to the case of Mollier. He was not considered a suspect in the case, said Maillaud.   

The Hillis' young daughters, Zainab and Zeena, survived the attack.

More than 1,300 people have been questioned in France and abroad in connection with the case.

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CRIME

Two girls wounded in knife attack outside French school

An assailant on Thursday wounded two girls aged 6 and 11 in a knife attack close to their school in the east of France and was later arrested, officials said.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:33 CEST
Two girls wounded in knife attack outside French school

The 11-year-old was stabbed outside the school in the town of Souffelweyersheim, on the outskirts of Strasbourg, while the six-year-old was attacked by the same man nearby.

Both received superficial wounds, police said, adding the attacker did not appear to have any known links to radicals and was not previously known to the security services.

Both received superficial wounds, police said, adding the attacker did not appear to have any known links to radicals and was not previously known to the security services.

Both girls are being treated in a paediatric hospital. Parents were later in the afternoon allowed to pick up their children, who had been confined to the school in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

The attacker, born in 1995, was arrested in the area where he attacked the second girl, the police said. He no longer had the knife in his hand and did not resist arrest, it added.

The attack came as Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a series of measures aimed at cracking down on violence committed by schoolchildren against their peers. There was no indication so far that the attacker had a link with the school.

“I’m really scared. We’ve been reassured that the children are safe inside, but we don’t know when we’ll be able to get them back,” Sarah, a mother of an eight-year-old pupil, told AFP before the green light was given to collect the children.

“A friend called me. She saw the commotion in front of the school as she passed by. Her reflex was to call me so that I could pick up my son.”

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