The brother of the man who killed seven people in south-west France in recent weeks has been charged over the murders, judicial sources say.

Abdelkader Merah, 29, is suspected of complicity in murder and theft, and involvement in terrorism. He will be kept in custody, prosecutors said.

Abdelkader Merah denies the accusations but says he was there when his brother stole a scooter used in the attacks.

He reportedly said he was proud of his brother, who was killed on Thursday.

Mohamed Merah died in a shoot-out with police following a 32-hour siege of his apartment in Toulouse.

During the stand-off he had admitted shooting dead three soldiers in two separate incidents, and, last Monday, killing three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in the city.

Investigators are trying to establish if Merah, a 23-year-old French citizen of Algerian descent, acted alone.

His older brother – and a woman described variously as his wife or girlfriend – were detained by police on Wednesday, and taken for questioning at domestic intelligence agency (DCRI) headquarters in Paris.

The woman was released without charge earlier on Sunday.

Prosecutors said Abdelkader Merah was presented to a judge in Paris on charges of criminal conspiracy aimed at planning terrorist acts and of complicity in murders and gang robbery.

“Police inquries have produced grave and matching pointers that suggest his participation as accomplice in crimes relating to a terrorist enterprise is plausible,” the Paris public prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Police and prosecutors have previously reportedly said Abdelkader is a radical Islamist and that traces of what could be an explosive material were found in his car.

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