An undated and non-datelined frame grab broadcast by French national television station France 2 who claim it shows Mohamed Merah
An undated and non-datelined video frame grab broadcast March 21, 2012 by French national television station France 2 who they claim to show Mohamed Merah, the suspect in the killing of 3 paratroopers, 3 children and a rabbi in recent days in France. About 300 police, some in body armour, have cordoned off a five-storey building in Toulouse where the 24-year-old Muslim shooter, identified as Mohamed Merah, is holed up. Reuters

Facebook removed the page paying tribute to the al Qaeda-linked French gunman Mohamed Merah Thursday. The page was created soon after the French police killed Merah who confessed to gunning down seven people, including three Jewish children, a rabbi and three police men, in a raid.

The page was removed after a request from the French interior ministry, the AFP reported, quoting the ministry officials.

The page reportedly had a picture of the young killer who claimed to be trained by al Qaeda and was titled Homage to Mohamed Merah, the AFP report said.

More than 500 people viewed the page in the few hours that it was available on the site before it was taken off. There were many comments criticizing the police and supporting Islamic extremism.

Alhough the homage page was removed, there still exists a Facebook page on Merah that has more than 4,165 followers. This page with his name as title doesn't have any photograph or active posts.

The page just shows related posts and a Wikipedia article on Merah, but one can still like this page.

Merah's murderous rampage included three schoolchildren and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse, southwest France, earlier this week. He also allegedly killed three police officers, before the police shot him down.

Merah had said that he killed the Jewish children to avenge the killings of Palestinian children by Israel, evoking public outrage in France against Islamic extremism.

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