(12 Sep 2012) Investigators are pursuing three leads in the killings of a British-Iraqi couple and two other people in the French Alps, but there are no suspects yet, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Saad Al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal, and an elderly woman were shot dead inside a car in a remote area of southeast France, while a French cyclist riding nearby also was killed.
The couple's 7-year-old daughter survived but was badly hurt, while her 4-year-old sister was unharmed.
All four people killed suffered two bullets to the head among other wounds.
The bodies were discovered by a British cyclist passing by who alerted police.
The grisly murders and the enigma surrounding the case has gripped Britain, where the couple lived, as well as France.
Prosecutor Eric Maillaud said at a news conference that the leads include the alleged conflict between Saad Al-Hilli and his brother over an inheritance, though the brother in England denies any dispute.
the professional lead of the victim's work as a satellite communications engineer; and the geographical lead of Iraq, where the couple have roots.
"I would say that you have these three obvious areas to look at and that they all need to be investigated with equal importance," Maillaud said.
The prosecutor also said that the 7-year-old daughter is a "key witness" but added that she was still recovering from wounds and hasn't been questioned.
"We cannot base the eventual positive or negative issue of the investigation on the declarations of a little seven year old and severely injured girl," Maillaud said.
Meanwhile, relatives of the dead couple called for the those responsible to be brought quickly to justice, saying on Wednesday they are "heartbroken" by the tragedy.
In their first public statement, released through Britain's foreign ministry, Ahmed Al-Saffar said relatives of the dead are "heartbroken by
this shocking crime."
Al-Saffar was identified by the ministry as brother to the elderly woman killed in the attack.
The elderly woman has not been formally named, but the Sipa news agency has reported she is the Swedish-Iraqi mother-in-law of Saad al-Hilli.
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