Police grasp for answers in 'savage' Alps mystery killing
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A police officer walks in the grounds of the home of Saad al-Hilli in Claygate, south of London on Sept 6, 2012. Police were grasping for answers on Thursday as it emerged that three of four victims were shot in the head in a mysterious killing in the French Alps that devastated a British-Iraqi family. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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British police officers inspect the side of a residential address believed to be the British home of a family shot dead in their car in the French Alps in Claygate, in south-east England, on Sept 6, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Crime coordinator Captain Laurent Dourel, (left), Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud, (second left), and French Gendarmes Colonel Bertrand Francois, (third left), and Lieutenant-Colonel Benoit Vinneman atttend a news conference in Annecy, French Alps, on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
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Gendarmerie Colonel François, (left), and Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud answer reporter near a killing site, near Chevaline, French Alps, on Wednesday, Sept 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
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Gendarmes block access to a killing site near Chevaline, French Alps, on Wednesday, Sept 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
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Journalists wait in front of Gendarmes, who block access to the site of a killing near Chevaline, French Alps, on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
A police officer walks in the grounds of the home of Saad al-Hilli in Claygate, south of London on Sept 6, 2012. Police were grasping for answers on Thursday as it emerged that three of four victims were shot in the head in a mysterious killing in the French Alps that devastated a British-Iraqi family. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
British police officers inspect the side of a residential address believed to be the British home of a family shot dead in their car in the French Alps in Claygate, in south-east England, on Sept 6, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
Crime coordinator Captain Laurent Dourel, (left), Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud, (second left), and French Gendarmes Colonel Bertrand Francois, (third left), and Lieutenant-Colonel Benoit Vinneman atttend a news conference in Annecy, French Alps, on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
Gendarmerie Colonel François, (left), and Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud answer reporter near a killing site, near Chevaline, French Alps, on Wednesday, Sept 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
Gendarmes block access to a killing site near Chevaline, French Alps, on Wednesday, Sept 5, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
Journalists wait in front of Gendarmes, who block access to the site of a killing near Chevaline, French Alps, on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
ANNECY, France (AFP) - Police were grasping for answers on Thursday as it emerged that three of four victims were shot in the head in a mysterious killing in the French Alps that devastated a British-Iraqi family.
The attack, which the prosecutor in charge of the case called an act of "extreme savagery", had many of the hallmarks of a professional assassination but authorities were at a loss to explain it.
Two young girls believed to be the daughters of two victims survived and were under police protection, including a four-year-old who hid beneath her dead mother's skirts for eight hours and at first went undetected by police.
Her seven-year-old sister was meanwhile in an induced coma ahead of surgery after being shot in the shoulder and suffering a fractured skull from what authorities said were "extremely violent" blows to the head.
Autopsies were to be conducted on Friday and police in France were expecting deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from Britain as they desperately sought clues.
