Man in bank siege claims links to al-Qaida

French police stormed a bank in Toulouse yesterday, arresting a gunman with psychiatric problems who claimed to be an al-Qaida militant and freeing his two hostages after a seven-hour siege.

The 26-year-old, who had taken four bank employees hostage in the morning in the same area where serial killer Mohamed Merah lived and was shot dead by police in March, was wounded in the stomach in the assault, police said.

The two other hostages, both women, had been released earlier, and no police officers were injured in the operation yesterday afternoon.