Thursday, March 29, 2012

Algeria Doesn't Want French Gunman's Body, Muslim Leader Says

FOX NEWS: TOULOUSE, France – A young man who claimed responsibility for France's worst terror attacks in years will be buried Thursday in a Muslim cemetery near the southern city where he was killed in gunfight with police, religious leaders said.

Burying Mohamed Merah is a sensitive issue for both his native France and his father's native Algeria.

Merah told police he filmed himself killing three schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers in a spate of attacks earlier this month. Merah, who said he had links to Al Qaeda, was shot in the head after a standoff with police last week.

His father wanted him buried in a family plot in Algeria. Merah's body was brought to the airport in the city of Toulouse on Thursday, and his mother had been expecting to accompany it to Algiers on a flight later in the day.

But Abdallah Zekri of the French Muslim Council, or CFCM, told The Associated Press that Algerian authorities refused for "reasons of public order." Zekri had been liaising with Algerian authorities in Toulouse.

Instead, Merah will be buried at the Muslim cemetery in Cornebarrieu, near Toulouse, Zekri said. » | Associated Press | Thursday, March 29, 2012

LE MONDE: Pourquoi Alger a refusé l'enterrement de Merah en Algérie » | Par Amir Akef | Alger | jeudi 29 mars 2012