Toulouse Shooting: Foreign Secretary William Hague Condemns "Appalling" Murders

Toulouse Shooting: Hague Condemns "Appalling" Murders

The fatal shootings of a rabbi and three children outside a French school have been condemned by the British government as an "appalling" act of calculated cruelty.

Rabbi Johnathan Sandler, 30, his two young sons and another child were the victims of what was feared to be the latest in a string of racist murders.

The killings at Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse were carried out with the same heavy calibre .45 automatic pistol used in two attacks in which three soldiers of north African and Caribbean origin were murdered in the region last week.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I am horrified by the attack this morning on the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse.

"The British Government expresses its deep and sincere sympathy for the families and friends of the victims and for the entire Jewish community in France.

"This act of calculated cruelty will unite all decent people in revulsion and condemnation. There is no excuse for such acts of appalling violence."

Jewish leaders in Britain also expressed their shock at the attack and rallied behind the victims' relatives, the Press Association reported.

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks said: "I am deeply shocked and saddened by the atrocious acts of murder in Toulouse this morning.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the victims and the entire community of Toulouse for whom today's tragedy will cast a long and dark shadow.

"We pray that the Almighty brings comfort to the children, parents and teachers at the Ozar Hatorah school and that the injured are speedily restored to full health."

Meanwhile, the Community Security Trust (CST), which protects British Jews against anti-semitic acts, described the crime as a reminder of the terror threat faced by Jewish schools and other buildings everywhere.

It said in a statement on its website: "CST is not aware of any specific information indicating a threat to the UK Jewish community, but this is a reminder of the general threat of terrorism to Jewish schools and other communal buildings.

"CST will continue to liaise with police and our counterparts in the French Jewish community as the exact details of this incident continue to emerge.

"CST requests all parents of children at Jewish schools to give school security personnel and staff your fullest co-operation and wherever possible volunteer to do security duty at your school."

Rabbi Sandler had been teaching Yiddish at the Jewish school in Toulouse for seven months before he and his six and three-year-old sons and another child aged around nine were gunned down.

The killer struck at around 8am, just before lessons were due to start, pumping 15 rounds at his defenceless targets.

Toulouse prosecutor Michel Valet said: "He shot at everything he had in front of him, children and adults. The children were chased inside the school."

The incident is the latest of several violent attacks in the area this month.

On 10 March, a gunman on a scooter shot and killed a paratrooper in Toulouse and last Thursday a gunman on a scooter opened fire on three uniformed paratroopers at a bank machine in Montauban, about 30 miles from the city, killing two and critically wounding the third.

Toulouse mayor Pierre Cohen said of today's shootings: "Everything leads one to believe that these were racist and anti-Semitic acts."

French president Nicolas Sarkozy flew to the scene and security was immediately stepped up at all French schools and religious buildings.

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