French CRS police block a street during a raid on a house to arrest suspects in the killing of three children and a rabbi on Monday at a Jewish school in Toulouse March 21, 2012. About 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armour, cordoned off an area surrounding an apartment in a Toulouse neighbourhood in southwestern France, where the 24-year-old Muslim man Mohamed Merah was holed up. Shots were heard in the early hours of the morning, and police said three officers had been slightly wounded.[Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - A gunman suspected of killing of seven people in the name of al Qaeda was arrested by police in southwest France after a nearly 12-hour operation in the city of Toulouse, French television channels BFM TV and i-Tele reported on Wednesday.

One police source who is not directly linked to the investigation confirmed the arrest to Reuters, but several other sources said they were not aware of it. ?

The TV channels cited police sources for the information, without providing further details. It was not immediately possible to confirm this.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to speak to the nation this afternoon. ?