France launches manhunt for Toulouse killer

French authorities have launched a large-scale manhunt for a gunman who shot dead three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday. The French police have linked the Monday attack to two separate shootings last week in which three soldiers of North African descent died, as the same guns and the same stolen scooter were used in all three attacks. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared the highest level of terrorism alert in southwestern France. At least 14 military and special police units were sent on Monday to the area as reinforcements and over 120 investigators are searching for the clues that might lead to the arrest of a serial killer who could be acting on religious or race-hatred motives. Sarkozi also ordered that guards be posted outside all religious schools, as well as all synagogues and mosques in Toulouse and surrounding regions.