France on highest alert after killings

France was on highest terror alert Tuesday as police hunted a gunman suspected in the killing of three children and a teacher outside a Jewish school. French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- who called the shootings a "national tragedy" and raised the national terrorism alert to its highest level, "scarlet" -- ordered riot police and France's military force, charged with police duties, to guard all Jewish and Muslim schools and places of worship in and around Toulouse, in southwestern France. Prime Minister Francois Fillon ordered heightened security at school and religious buildings across the country. Sarkozy put his re-election campaign on hold until at least Wednesday and ordered a minute's silence across France at 11 a.m. (6 a.m. EDT) Tuesday. He said it appeared "obvious" the attack was anti-Semitic. At the school Monday, he said: "Barbarity, savagery, cruelty cannot win. Hate cannot win." Socialist presidential front-runner Francois Hollande visited the school to condemn the "terrible, horrible drama" and call on France to unite. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killings "in the strongest possible terms." Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called them "despicable murder." Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said, "We strongly condemn all terrorist operations, and in particular the attack today in Toulouse." European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso strongly condemned "this odious crime," saying, "Nothing is more intolerable than the murder of innocent children." The Vatican denounced the "horrific and heinous act," with spokesman Federico Lombardi noting it followed other "senseless violence" in France. The White House condemned the killings as "horrific," "outrageous" and "unprovoked." Several European countries, including the Netherlands and Sweden, stepped up security around Jewish schools and other buildings. New York police beefed up security around synagogues and Jewish institutions. The Toulouse killings -- which witnesses and video surveillance indicated were committed by a lone gunman who arrived and sped off on a black motorbike -- were the third fatal attack on unarmed people in the region in little over a week. Two other shootings were also "ride-by" motorbike attacks, authorities said. An attack Thursday left two paratroopers dead and a third in a coma. An attack four days earlier killed an off-duty soldier. Three of the men were of North African descent and one was of West Indian origin. Two were Muslim. There has been no claim of responsibility for any of the slaying, but the French weekly news magazine Le Point said one line of inquiry suggested the killings might be tied to a court-martial several years ago of a group neo-Nazi soldiers who were members of France's 17th Parachute Transport Regiment. Three of the four attacked soldiers were members of that unit. Police said the same .45-caliber automatic pistol was used in all three shootings. Monday's alleged killer, who kept his motorcycle helmet on throughout the killings, "shot at everything he could see -- children and adults -- and some children were chased into the school," Toulouse prosecutor Michel Valet told reporters. Dead are 30-year old Rabbi Jonathan Sandler and his two sons, Gabriel, age 3, and Arye, 6, along with 8-year-old Miriam Monsonego. The gunman chased her into a concrete courtyard, grabbed her by her hair and shot her at point-blank range, Valet said. Miriam is the daughter of school principal, Yaacov Monsonego, officials said. A 17-year-old male student was wounded in the shooting and was hospitalized. The shooting at the 200-student Ozar Hatorah school occurred around 8:10 a.m. as students arrived for morning classes, witnesses said. The gunman opened fire at the spot where parents dropped off their children. The killings were recorded by the school's video surveillance system, officials said. The Paris prosecutor's office, which is handling the investigation, said the individual appears to target his victims "for what they represent." Toulouse has one of the largest Jewish communities in France, with many of Moroccan, Tunisian and Algerian heritage. France has the largest Jewish community in western Europe, estimated at 500,000 to 700,000 as well as its largest Muslim population, at about 5 million.