SKY NEWS, DAILY MAIL, BBC, THE GUARDIAN (UK), LE FIGARO, LE POINT (France)
Police have cordoned off two roads outside the home of a British family found shot dead in the French Alps, and residents have been evacuated from the immediate area, reports Sky News.
Sky reporter Ashish Joshi, outside the al-Hilli house in Claygate, Surrey, said the reason for the move is unknown, but “it’s possible they have found something dangerous inside and they are not taking any chances.”
BBC reporter Keith Doyle said officers from the Royal Logistics Corp bomb disposal unit have arrived at the family home.
Army truck outside al-Hilli house twitter.com/JonClementsITV…
— Jon Clements (@JonClementsITV) September 10, 2012
The dramatic turn of events comes as the extent of the bitter feud at the heart of the al-Hilli family was revealed yesterday, says the Daily Mail. In a letter written last September, murdered Saad al-Hilli said his brother Zaid was a ‘control freak’ and he wanted to ‘wipe him out of (his) life.’ Zaid has strenuously denied there was any feud between them and is said to be ‘devastated.’
French daily Le Figaro reports that investigators are also looking at the al-Hilli’s family Iraqi connections: in what conditions did the family leave Iraq in the 1970s? What ties did it keep with Iraq?
Meanwhile, seven-year-old Zainab, who was beaten in the head and shot in the shoulder, remains heavily sedated in a French hospital after being brought out of a medically-induced coma on Sunday, according to Sky News. Her younger four-year-old sister, Zeena, who was discovered unhurt hiding under the body of her dead mother, has returned to the UK with an aunt and uncle.
Police officers are eager to question Zainab. She is considered a key witness, as she is the only one to have seen the assailants, to be able to say how many of them there were, and to give their description. She will be interviewed by police officers specializing in children, says Le Point.
The Guardian on Sunday criticized the French press covering of the shootings, saying the murder of a British family and French cyclist was being treated as a “fait divers,” a term used to describe a trivial news item. Libération, the leading left-wing daily newspaper carried a short report on page 14 under the headline: “Unexplained carnage in Haute-Savoie,” while its rival, right wing Le Figaro relegated the story to page eight.
