4 shot to death at Jewish school in France

PARIS -- France was plunged into mourning and national outrage yesterday by the terrorist-style killings of three young children and a rabbi as they gathered for classes at a Jewish school in a quiet residential neighborhood of Toulouse.

The lone assassin rode up on a motor scooter and opened fire with two pistols, first shooting at a knot of waiting children outside the school, then chasing some of them as they fled for safety into the building, a local prosecutor, Michel Valet, said. In addition to the four killed, a half-dozen students were wounded, including a 17-year-old reported to be in serious condition at a hospital.

The style of the killings and one of the weapons used led law enforcement authorities to suggest a link with the assassinations of three soldiers last week in the same area of southwestern France, and possibly a political motive arising from France's military role in the Afghan war.

The first soldier was shot and killed in Toulouse on March 11 as he met a man who pretended to be interested in buying his motorcycle. Four days later, two other soldiers were killed and a third was badly injured as they took money from an automated teller machine in Montauban, 30 miles to the north.

Police said the same kind of weapon, a Colt .45 semiautomatic pistol of the kind once carried by U.S. armed forces, was used in all three shootings. Forensic tests determined it was the same pistol, according to reports from Toulouse quoting local police.

The evidence suggesting a single killer was involved in all three assassinations gave rise to suggestions that he may be a Muslim extremist driven by a desire to avenge French participation in the Afghan war, which could also be consistent with the attack on a Jewish school.

The issue was considered extremely sensitive in France during the presidential election campaign. Public opinion already has been aroused by a controversy over halal meat, meat prepared according to Islamic tradition, and President Nicolas Sarkozy's repeated promises to rein in the number of foreigners, chiefly Muslims, who sneak into France or are granted legal residence.

Sarkozy traveled to Toulouse immediately after the shooting to show his concern. He was followed several hours later by François Hollande of the Socialist Party, his main opponent in the election later this spring.

In New York, the Police Department stepped up security at synagogues and other sites yesterday after the shooting.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said though there were no specific threats against New York, which has the largest Jewish population outside Israel, the NYPD decided to take precautionary measures.

The locations getting additional security included the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Israeli Mission to the United Nations.