Man is reported to have fired shot while holding up to four people in French city A gunman claiming links to al-Qaida was holding four employees of a bank hostage in southern France on Wednesday, not far from the former home of drive-by killer Mohamed Merah, who shot dead seven people in March , including three Jewish schoolchildren. Police were called to the CIC bank in an eastern suburb of Toulouse after the alarm was raised. Police, who immediately blocked roads and surrounded the building, said a man in his 30s went into the bank around 10am local time and fired one shot shortly after staff refused to hand over cash

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