The body of the gunman who killed three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse will be buried in France rather than Algeria as his father had requested.
Algerian authorities have refused to allow the body of Mohammed Merah to enter the country for burial, Reuters reported, citing an official at the Grand Mosque of Paris.
The mayor of the Algerian village of Bezzaz reportedly citied security reasons for declining the request, according to Reuters.
Merah’s father continues to insist that his son will be buried in Algeria. Merah is a French citizen of Algerian origin.
Abdallah Zekri of the Paris mosque, however, told Reuters that Merah would likely be buried in the Toulouse area, preferably in the next 24 hours.
Merah’s body is currently at a hospital morgue in Toulouse.
He was killed by police after a 30-hour siege at his Toulouse home. During the siege, Merah told French police that he killed the Jewish students at the Ozar Hatorah school in revenge for Palestinian children killed in Gaza, and had killed three French soldiers the previous week for serving in Afghanistan.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.