the dissident frogman

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• Known by the police for delinquency, sometimes with violence—your average 'racaille des banlieues', or suburb scumbag.


• Two tours in Afghanistan & Pakistan. Gets the Al-Qaeda wings with Taliban ribbons. Admittedly imprisoned in Kandahar, that little shit bird flew away during a Taliban-organized break-out in June 2008 (though that last bit still has to be officially confirmed by French sources)


• Back in France, that particular Mohamed follows through on the Way of the Jihad. His brother and sister share the same vibe, even though they have not had their AfPak ticket (yet?).

• 03:00 AM (Wednesday 03/21) RAID operation starts. Gunfire at some point. One cop slightly wounded in the knee, another can thank the Gods of Kevlar for his bulletproof vest.


• 05:00 2 hours in the raid, and the suspect is still holding up in his flat. Negotiations are under way. Cops in helmets and bulletproof vests have the whole area under lock-down. Why are they negotiating? Beats me, though I imagine they may fear the suspect is a fully equipped Muhammad, which would include the Exploding-Muhammad Personal Kit.


• 05:45 Gunfire again. One cop reportedly wounded in the shoulder. I guess that in the course of the negotiation, somebody must have said something offensive to the Muhammadan sensitivity.


• 06:00 Claude Guéant, ministry of the Interior, takes the mic to confirm that the raid is still going on, and targets "someone with links to people who describe themselves as Salafists and Mudjahidins, claims to be a Mudjahidin himself and be part of al-Qaeda, and willing to avenge the Palestinian children as well as take on the French Army". Guéant also announces that the Mohamed "talks a lot" and that his Mom was brought to the scene, and offered to contact him and try to reason with him. She refused, saying that she had little influence on him.


• 06:14 The anti-terrorist task force announces that "several operations are currently under way" in the Toulouse area. Probably rounding up some extra Muhammads.


• 08:30 raid still under way. Marc Stzulman, secretary-general of the CRIJ (French representative council of the Jewish institutions), after a meeting with Guéant, reveals that "the suspect won't surrender". No, don't expect a French-bashing joke here.


• 09:02 A blast is reported. According to the AFP, that's just the police destroying a car that was blocking the operation. Then again, the AFP are the very people who can't tell a bullet from an unspent cartridge when shown one by a old Iraqi hag, so make what you want of that...


• 09:06 Guéant announces that "the suspect" (that's the guy who's been firing at the cops for the last 6 hours) said he will surrender this afternoon. Says Guéant: "our primary concern is to get him in custody and in such conditions as we can bring him to justice. Our concern is to catch him alive of course. This is how justice must work." In proper speech, that means "If at all possible, let's get us an unexploded Mohamed; without too many holes in the Mohamed thank you very much."
  
  Guéant adds that the Mohamed has thrown his Colt .45 through the window but still has "many weapons". TF1 says "a kalachnikov and a Uzi pistol". But TF1 is just the AFP's next of kin so what do you know. Plus: how a ruthless Mudjahidin can possibly be pursuing Jihad by way of Infidel American and Jewish Weapons of War? Cognitive dissonance much Mohamed?


• 10:51 "the suspect" has stopped talking with the police. Moreover, "the police" has told TF1 that the Mohamed's Mom, his brother and said brother's girlfriend have been in preventive custody since 04:00/06:00 AM. Under French law, they can remain there for 4 days without a court order.


• 11:25 The residents of the building have been evacuated. Yeah, just 8 hours after the raid began, the shooting, the negotiation and all. Hey, don't ask me.


• 12:00 TF1 says that "according to an Afghani official" (undetermined and without a name, apparently—DF) the suspected Mohamed did time in Kandahar for bombing activities (IEDs, I presume).


• 13:05 TF1 says that "according to someone close to the investigation" (undetermined and without a... Oh, you get it—DF), the love is back between the RAID and the suspected Mohamed: they be talking again. Methinks TF1 doesn't know much, but feels like they need to update anyway. That's the French press for you.




Developing here for those of you desperate enough to inflict some raw French upon themselves.

If TF1 find some source with a name and qualifications, or if anything else of importance happens, I shall update here too.



Update


TF1 updates its updates on the raid with an information not directly related to the raid. And without citing any source. I did tell you about the French press, didn't I?




• 13:49 Says TF1: "Mohamed Merah tried to join the French Army (infantry) in 2008 and the Foreign Legion two years later—without success." Would-be Jihadi infiltrating Western armies? Gee, that's a scoop.


• 14:20 TF1 says that BFMTV says that the suspected Mohamed was just arrested by the RAID, but the DCRI (that's the police intelligence bureau) says "not true". He-says-she-says. Who knows?


• 14:35 The police reports that "explosives" (these are TF1's own quotes, not mine) have been retrieved from the suspected Mohamed's brother car. Muhammad, explosives, check.


• 14:50 Guéant, France's Ministry of the Interior has denied the Mohamed's arrest—as claimed by BFMTV. So either the Ministry or the channel are full of fecal matter. According to my personal knowledge of both French politicians and press, it's a 50/50 call.


• 15:15 TF1 updates: "Sarkozy just left the barracks [army or police? no precision—DF] nearby the building where the suspected Mohamed is under siege, without making any comment". In other words, TF1 says that Sarko leaves without saying anything—and they think that was worth saying.


• TF1 update: "according to the CRIF, the suspected Mohamed was ready to strike again this morning" (Wednesday). I presume the CRIF got the info when its secretary-general met Guéan earlier this morning.


• TF1 pushes on the last update with an unspecified source "close to the investigation" that reveals the suspected Mohamed was planning to kill a soldier today.


• 16:00 François Molins and Michel Valet, public prosecutors from Paris and Toulouse announce a press conference alongside Christian Lothion the boss of the "Police Judiciaire" at 16:30, Perignon barracks in Toulouse.


• 16:55 The RAID allegedly tried to enter the Mohamed's stronghold several times today, only to be driven out by the Mohamed's gunfire. That's a bit weird; these guys are (used to be?) elite.


• 17:00 Paris public prosecutor François Molins says that Mohamed Merah has updated his surrender program: rather than this afternoon, he's now aiming at "late evening" today—In time for prime-time perhaps? Is the Mohamed looking for a public apparition during the sacrosanct 20:00 news?




This guy (presumably) alone has been keeping French elite intervention forces at bay for nearly 15 hours. You can bet your spare Koran that he is scoring big Mujahidin PR creds. "La Republique" should stop this circus dead in its tracks right now.



More updates



Bits and pieces from the press conference with Molins, the public prosecutor:


• They knew about that particular Mohamed's potential for Jihad. For years. That's how they spotted him among the 576 IP addresses users they checked after the first murder on March 11.


• Watching the videos of the murders on the 19th allowed them to match the killer with the psychological profile of Mohamed Merah: violent, and with several charges of violence as a juvenile.


• The owner of a Yamaha dealership approached the police to reveal that one of the Mohamed's brothers had visited his store and asked how to disable the tracker helping to find scooters in case of theft.


• The Mohamed can't stop talking apparently, "spontaneaously" since this morning according to Morins, giving away many information that call for verification.


• He told the police where they would find a Renault Megane car he rented in early March, containing weapons.


• Among other things he reportedly "doesn't have a martyr's soul" and "would prefer to kill while remaining alive". He claims he's acting in reaction to the Palestinians' fate, the French foreign policy and interventions as well as the ban on burqas.


• He "regrets he didn't kill more people" but gloats that he "brought France on its knees".


Since the Socialists abolished the death penalty—without asking for the public's consent—and since the Justice department in this country is the left wing of the Left, this dirtbag is looking for a life term at most.

In France, that's roughly 22 years—not such a big deal for a 24 years old.



More TF1 timeline



Here's the latest on the TF1 timeline of events:


• 19:53 Longuet, the Ministry of Defense chimes in and declares that "this may take the whole night as they want to catch him alive in order to bring him to justice, learn his motivations, and his supports and accomplices, if any". No idea why the Ministry of Defense brings his big mouth in what is interior police matter, by it's always "interesting" to know that the French ministry of war still isn't sure enough about the "motivations" of an al-Qaeda affiliated Mudjahidin. Figures.
• 20:20 Paris public prosecutor reveals that the Mohamed could spend days hunkered down in his flat just watching videos, including decapitations.
• 20:25 The suspected Mohamed claims he refused to go on a suicide attack for al-Qaeda but accepted a "general mission" to commit some attack in France.
• 20:30 Guéant hopes the "suspected motorcycle killer" (TF1's words—I guess this is not Jihad anymore, just... Motorcycle road rage) will soon surrender, hopefully at nightfall; they are purportedly discussing conditions.


This is top journalism: TF1 botches its own timeline, and puts a 21:04 marker between the 20:20 and the 20:25. They're editing their bloody site by hand or what? Anyway: power has been shutdown in the whole block. Looks like the beginning of the end (or the end of the beginning) for the Mohamed.

And it spells "Assault", not "Surrender". I must confess I'm hoping for a double-tap à la française. Geronimo!


• 22:05 According to TF1 / LCI's own reporter in Toulouse, approximately 20 RAID operators have entered the building. Some of them are in the apartments next to Mohamed Merah's.
• 23:37 Three detonations reported by TF1 near the Mohamed's nest—presumably stun grenades. According to an (again) anonymous "police source" for Reuters the assault has started. This is apparently confirmed by Toulouse's mayor office.


Time for me to close shop for the night however. Here's to tomorrow, and the hope of one less kid-killing Mohamed breathing the same air as ourselves.



Update, Thursday



The story continues here.