Full horror of Alps mystery killing emerges

Three of the four people killed in a mystery shooting in the French Alps were shot in the head in what the prosecutor in charge of the case today called an act of "extreme savagery."

Eric Maillaud said he could not say whether the unexplained attack had the hallmarks of a professional assassination.

But he added: "It was clearly an act of extreme savagery and it was obvious that whoever did this wanted to kill."

Maillaud revealed that the elder of two young sisters who survived the shooting had been placed in an induced coma ahead of further surgery in a hospital in Grenoble.

The prosecutor said the girl had been shot in the shoulder and suffered multiple and "extremely violent" blows to the head during yesterday's attack.

"Her life is not in danger but obviously she is no state to be interviewed," he added.
Three of the four people killed were found in a British- registered BMW estate car. The fourth victim, a cyclist who arrived at the scene by chance, was named today as Sylvain Mollier, a local man.

Police sources have confirmed that the car belonged to Saad al-Hilli, a 50-year-old born in Iraq but resident in Surrey in the southeast of England.

The elder of two women found dead in the back seat of the car was identified as a Swedish passport holder. A younger woman, thought to be al-Hilli's wife, was carrying an Iraqi passport.

Maillaud also cast light on how a four-year-girl who was in the car at the time of the shooting managed to survive having appeared "completely invisible" under the skirt of her mother.

The little girl spent eight hours crouching beneath her mother's corpse after the first firemen and police officers to arrive on the scene failed to spot her.

The officers were under orders to leave the car untouched pending the arrival of forensic experts who did not get to the scene of the crime -- a forest car park near the village of Chevaline -- until nearly midnight.

The family had been staying since September 3 at the nearby Saint Jorioz camp site, where fellow campers reported their disappearance on Wednesday evening.

Chevaline and the surrounding area on the shores of Lake Annecy is popular with tourists, including many Britons.