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Alps killings' survivor leaves hospital
Source: Agencies |
September 15, 2012, Saturday
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A girl who survived the shooting in the French Alps that killed her parents and grandmother left a French hospital yesterday to return to UK, though police could not say how soon she may be questioned about the murders.
Seven-year-old Zaina al-Hilli who was shot in the shoulder and severely beaten, emerged last Sunday from a medically-induced coma and was traveling back to Britain, where the family lived, Surrey Police said.
Police would not confirm who was accompanying Zaina back to the UK, or comment on the role the child might play in assisting French and British detectives investigating the case. Britain's Foreign Office, which had been offering support to the girl, declined to comment.
British-Iraqi engineer Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal, her mother and an unrelated French cyclist were shot dead last week in a quiet wooded area near France's Lake Annecy. Zaina was found covered in blood and suffering from head injuries by a passerby. Her 4-year-old sister Zeena was left unharmed, but lay undiscovered for eight hours - huddled under the legs of her deceased mother.
The young British sisters are the only known witnesses to the crime, and the elder daughter is now regarded as crucial to the investigation.
William Brett Martin, the cyclist who was first to arrive at the scene of the killings, said he found Zaina stumbling along the ground outside the car in which her family had been shot dead. He told BBC television in an interview on Thursday that the girl was covered in blood and had "obvious head injuries."
French prosecutor Eric Maillaud believes the key to solving the execution-style killings is in the UK, where French police are now carrying out inquiries - suggesting there may be a link to the al-Hilli family's personal or professional life in Surrey, where they settled after leaving Iraq.
A family dispute, al-Hilli's job as an engineer, or the family's Middle Eastern origins have all been suggested as potential motives for the slayings.
Seven-year-old Zaina al-Hilli who was shot in the shoulder and severely beaten, emerged last Sunday from a medically-induced coma and was traveling back to Britain, where the family lived, Surrey Police said.
Police would not confirm who was accompanying Zaina back to the UK, or comment on the role the child might play in assisting French and British detectives investigating the case. Britain's Foreign Office, which had been offering support to the girl, declined to comment.
British-Iraqi engineer Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal, her mother and an unrelated French cyclist were shot dead last week in a quiet wooded area near France's Lake Annecy. Zaina was found covered in blood and suffering from head injuries by a passerby. Her 4-year-old sister Zeena was left unharmed, but lay undiscovered for eight hours - huddled under the legs of her deceased mother.
The young British sisters are the only known witnesses to the crime, and the elder daughter is now regarded as crucial to the investigation.
William Brett Martin, the cyclist who was first to arrive at the scene of the killings, said he found Zaina stumbling along the ground outside the car in which her family had been shot dead. He told BBC television in an interview on Thursday that the girl was covered in blood and had "obvious head injuries."
French prosecutor Eric Maillaud believes the key to solving the execution-style killings is in the UK, where French police are now carrying out inquiries - suggesting there may be a link to the al-Hilli family's personal or professional life in Surrey, where they settled after leaving Iraq.
A family dispute, al-Hilli's job as an engineer, or the family's Middle Eastern origins have all been suggested as potential motives for the slayings.
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