History of Toulouse - Modern Day

Modern Day

Toulouse suffered the explosion of the AZF chemical plant, owned by the Société nationale des poudres et des explosifs, on September 21, 2001. The plant was totally destroyed and the explosion damaged many houses, schools, churches, monuments and shops. More than 20,000 flats were damaged. The plant is 8 km (5.0 mi) from the centre of Toulouse. Twenty nine people died and several thousand were injured. The root of the explosion was in a building containing ammonium nitrate.

In March 2012, Mohammed Merah opened fire at a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing a teacher and three children. A 8 year old girl was shot in the head at point blank range. President Nicolas Sarkozy said that it was "obvious" it was an anti-Semitic attack and that, "I want to say to all the leaders of the Jewish community, how close we feel to them. All of France is by their side." The Israeli Prime Minister condemned the "despicable anti-Semitic" murders. After a 32 hour siege and standoff with the police outside his house, and a French raid, Merah jumped off a balcony and was shot in the head and killed. Merah told police during the standoff that he intended to keep on attacking, and he loved death the way the police loved life. He also claimed connections with al-Qaeda.