www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europ...-near-Grenoble.html#

From the video on the news site the location is as per map link below.

Looks like the family are Iraqi in origin although living in the UK.
Very strange..


maps.google.ie/maps?q=For%C3%AAt+Domania...bp=12,192.98,,0,7.38

You'll have to cut and paste the whole map link for it to work btw.

As the internet isn't the place for wild speculation I'll have to wait for more information before I can comment.

Heart breaking to hear about the wee girl hiding under the body of her mother in the car. Poor little mite.

Aye.
Its very strange because it's in such a remote location, even gone to the extent of finishing a witness too.

they are forcing the robbery idea, when it seems like some big conspiracy thing.
i bet some one was a microbiologist.

ppl say the guy was working on the iraqi nuclear program previously, but i dont see anything other than peoples tweets regurgitated so wait n see.

batou wrote:
Indeed. I look forward to knowing more about the guys history. We'll have to wait and see but it's hard to find anything random about the killings.
I see that both the little girls have survived although one was shot up pretty bad. Let's hope she recovers.

Those poor babies.

Imagine a 4 year old hiding under her mum's corpse for all those hours. They're saying the 7 year old will have brain damage due to her fractured skull. They're now under heavily armed guard. I hope they catch the soulless monster who did this.

This report states the murdered man was the secretary of a Wiltshire based aerial photography company.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/05/fren...6.html?ncid=webmail1

He's supposed to have confided something to his neighbour, who won't disclose what it was, but will be reporting it to the police...

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/...-emerge-8113628.html

"Meanwhile, al-Hilli was known to British intelligence services, the Daily Mail website reported on Thursday.

Metropolitan police Special Branch officers working with the intelligence services placed al-Hilli, under surveillance during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, a neighbor who claimed to have hosted them told the paper.

According to the Mail report, intelligence officers from the British embassy in Paris arrived at the scene hours after the attack happened following a tip off from contacts in the French interior ministry that the car was British registered.

The Mail and Daily Telegraph both explored the possibility that the killings were the result of a family feud.

The Mail quoted family friend Zaid Alabdi, who alleged the row was over the inheritance left by al-Hilli’s father, who died a year ago.
Meanwhile, al-Hilli was known to British intelligence services, the Daily Mail website reported on Thursday.

Metropolitan police Special Branch officers working with the intelligence services placed al-Hilli, under surveillance during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, a neighbor who claimed to have hosted them told the paper.

According to the Mail report, intelligence officers from the British embassy in Paris arrived at the scene hours after the attack happened following a tip off from contacts in the French interior ministry that the car was British registered."

www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/p...french-alps-killings

I haven't seen much about the murdered cyclist, beyond speculation that he was a witness to the family being killed. Although that seems the most likely scenario, I wonder how they're so sure it wasn't the other way round.

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/06/fre...s-shooting-two-girls

Looks like he's involved with 2 companies and is a director of one of them which is involved in airplane engineering of some sort.

The aerial photography must be the other business then.

andyh wrote:
A lot of articles I saw contradicted each other about that. In some, he was sai dto be heading up 3 companies.

My missus said she saw what was supposed to be their house on tv, she said it looked quite run down with a lot of rubbish and rubble outside it and not what she expected a director of a successful business described to be living in.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europ...ible-family-row.html

^Theres an article with an overhead pic of the car.

I see smashed glass on the driver side and the passenger side.
The windscreen is intact....yet the witness who arrived on the bicycle supposedly smashed the 'windscreen' to turn the ignition off.

It also says '2 bullets each' 'work of a marksman' and then goes on to mention 15 casings!!

News reporting is like chinese whispers.

yeah all shot in the head except one, probably the cyclist & they targeted victims instead of just spraying the car.
oh yeah, now they think his relative is involved with some inheritance thing.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19514794

i hope those 2 kids get better. i dont know who could do that

French Alps shootings: police evacuate victims' neighbours

Surrey police extend cordon after items found in home of Saad and Iqbal al-Hilli, who were killed in multiple murder in Annecy

Shiv Malik, Kim Willsher and Caroline Davies
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 September 2012 10.56 BST

Surrey police are evacuating neighbours of the murdered engineer Saad al-Hilli after finding "items" at the family home in Claygate, Surrey.

Neighbours living close to the property were prevented from returning to their homes as army bomb disposal officers were called to the scene. The police investigation appeared to focus on a shed or workshop at the bottom of the garden.

Hilli was shot in the head last week along with his wife, Iqbal, and a woman police have now confirmed was his mother-in-law while on a camping holiday with their two daughters in Annecy, in the French Alps. The children, Zainab, seven, and Zeena, four, survived the attack, which took place while the family were in their car.

A witness who was cycling past was also shot in the head. French authorities leading the investigation into the multiple murders have suggested the attack bore the hallmarks of a professional killing.

On Monday, Surrey police said they were evacuating homes in the village of Claygate after finding items that concerned them. The £1.5m mock Tudor home has been under police guard since Thursday, and police and forensic teams began searching the house this weekend for clues that could help French police find the killers.

A Royal Logistic Corps bomb disposal truck arrived shortly after the police cordon was extended, at around 9.30am. Officers were seen apparently receiving a briefing at a neighbouring home.

British police are working alongside their French counterparts, trying to unravel the mystery of the four deaths.

Officers first entered the Hillis' family home on Saturday after a team of four French investigators, led by Colonel Marc de Tarle, arrived in the UK.

In a short statement, the force said: "Surrey police can confirm that due to concerns around items found at the address in Oaken Lane in Claygate, officers have extended the cordon surrounding the property.

"Neighbours in the immediate area are being temporarily evacuated and we will provide more information when we have it."

French police have confirmed that the elderly woman found murdered in the car was Iqbal al-Hilli's mother.

Detectives had struggled to identify the 74-year-old Swedish passport-holder. Zeena, who survived by hiding underneath her dead mother's skirt for eight hours, was able to confirm her parents' identity, telling investigators who showed her photographs: "That's Mummy … and that's Daddy." However, when asked about the older woman, the traumatised child told them it was someone she had not seen often, and of whose identity she was uncertain.

Zainab suffered severe head injuries in the attack and underwent two operations in Grenoble University hospital, where she was in a medically induced coma until Sunday afternoon.

On Monday, the French investigating team said a weekend search of the family home had revealed the woman was the girls' grandmother.

In Annecy, police are examining a laptop computer and two mobile phones found in the family car.

As speculation continued over possible motives for the murders, one man, thought to be one of the last people to see the family alive, is reported to have told journalists the family had arrived at the isolated car park at least one hour before they were killed.

Laurent Fillion-Robin, 38, also said there was no sign of any vehicle following the family. The builder said he had been working on a house in Chevaline when he saw the red British-registered BMW drive past, between 2.30pm and 3pm. The shooting was reported to police just before 4pm.

Even when they disclose what was found in the property to cause concern, we're not necessarily going to know if it's genuinely connected to al-Hilli, or if it was something planted in the family's absence to discredit him.

I'm with you Batou. Even if the dad had been involved in something bad, which isn't clear yet, it takes a monster to go after kids - they're completely vulnerable and innocent. I just hope they're being properly loved and protected, rather than ruthlessly interrogated.

What i find strange is that somebody waited for this man to go on holiday to another country Where he would be with his family 24/7 and that there was a small window of opportunity (ie however long his holiday was for) .

Why didn't they shoot/kill him in England where he would more likely be away from his family for periods of time?

Why kill everybody including the cyclist? shooter most likely not wearing mask and could be identified.

Edit-

My wild speculation is that the weapon used could have been a scorpion vz 61.

Why?

It fires 7.65 rounds (the caliber of bullets used in the killings),it can hold a lot of bullets in one clip (25 bullets were fired from one single weapon in the shootings in the French Alps),small and compact meaning easily hidden,cyclist had many bullets in his body (can be switched to auto or semi auto).

Kindly observe my comment at the bottom of #8, and refer to me as Miss Marple from now on.

(The subject matter's nothing to joke about though, obviously).

Could French victim of the Alpine massacre have been the main target? French police admit cyclist may have led 'double life'

By PETER ALLEN
PUBLISHED: 19:43, 16 September 2012 | UPDATED: 08:41, 17 September 2012

-Sylvain Mollier worked in the nuclear industry, specialising in zirconium metal-working for nuclear reactors

-French police exploring the theory that Mr Mollier could have been the massacre's intended victim

-He was hit by five bullets, including two to the head

The cyclist shot dead in the Alps may have been the ‘main target’ of the massacre, French police say – not the British al-Hilli family.
Investigators made the extraordinary claim as Sylvain Mollier, who worked in the nuclear industry, was ‘temporarily buried’ in a secret ceremony yesterday.
This went against the wishes of the 45-year-old’s family, who had asked for him to be cremated.

It is believed forensic experts still want to examine his body for clues, which would have been impossible if the remains had been destroyed. French investigators are examining the theory that he may have led a ‘double life’ and been the intended target of the shooting.

Until now the investigation had focused on the deaths of British aerospace engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Ikbal, 47, and his mother-in-law Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, who were shot in the countryside near Annecy in their BMW estate car.
Mr al-Hilli’s seven-year-old daughter Zainab was discovered badly beaten by a passing British cyclist shortly after the attack.

Her four-year-old sister, Zeena, was found unscathed hiding under her dead mother’s skirt eight hours later. The family, from Claygate, Surrey, had been camping near Lake Annecy when they were attacked.

It had been thought that Mr Mollier was killed because he witnessed the shootings as he cycled past.
But Lt Colonel Benedict Vinnemann, who is leading the gendarme inquiry, revealed he was considering other possibilities.
He said: ‘Was the al-Hilli family the main target? Was it not the cyclist? Only ongoing work on the scene can answer this question clearly.
‘We’re talking about someone whom everybody says was a gentleman, but who’s to say he did not lead a double life?’
Mr Mollier worked for Cezus, a subsidiary of the Areva Group, specialising in zirconium metalworking for nuclear fuel containers.
He lived in Ugine, close to the isolated beauty spot on the edge of the village of Chevaline where the shootings took place.

He had two teenage boys from a previous marriage while his second wife, a pharmacist, gave birth in June. Mr Mollier was still on paternity leave and had been using his spare time to cycle around the countryside.
The two survivors, Zainab and Zeena, are back in Britain and are believed to have been reunited at a secret location near London. They are being closely protected, amid fears that whoever was responsible for the attack may try to harm them.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204165...e.html#ixzz26iLgD8dK

al hilli was under surveillance since 2003 though, until when.. or was he still? an ex raf guy stumbles upon the scene.. surveillance must have been done & over right, or we wouldn't have these q's.

i think all of this info is just speculations to keep us busy. the real info is in the ballistics, cellphone calls and gps (which the raf guy said he had to travel to get a signal), laptops and surveillance. we dont know what zain and zeena have to say either if they can. what they think is missing from the bodies? what about where they stayed? who did they meet, talk to, where did they go, what kind of contracts did they have? its all a guessing game for us. the only thing we do know is its an assassination and someone wanted someone dead.. but those little girls surviving, i dont think its a mistake. i think it was a mistake they got shot at all. everyone else was executed, the girls just wounded. it is horrible to say, but why werent they finished off?

There may have been some clandestine meeting - a connection - between the family and the cyclist. As you say, it's all speculation. But you can still address me as Miss Marple if you don't mind.