Al-Jazeera said Tuesday it will not air a video that appears to show the attacks on soldiers and a Jewish school in southwestern France earlier this month from the killer's point of view, including the cries of his victims.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, other French officials and family members of the victims had asked that it not be broadcast.
The footage was contained on a USB key sent with a letter to the Paris office of the Qatar-based television company, Zied Tarrouche, the station's Paris bureau chief, said Tuesday on the French TV station BFM. The letter, written in poor French with spelling and grammar errors, claimed the shootings were carried out in the name of al Qaeda.
Police traced the attacks to Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman, who was killed last week after a more than 30-hour standoff with police at his apartment building. Merah had claimed to police that he had links to al Qaeda, traveled to Afghanistan, and received weapons training in the militant-riddled Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan. But authorities have questioned some of Merah's claims.
Prosecutors have said that Merah filmed all of his attacks, including those at a Jewish school, killing three children.
{{/usCountry}}Prosecutors have said that Merah filmed all of his attacks, including those at a Jewish school, killing three children.
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