French Alps shooting: Girl who survived French shooting saw ‘one bad man’

A LITTLE girl who survived the shooting in the French Alps that claimed the lives of three members of her family, saw “one bad man”, it was reported last night.

• French police hunt British-registered black Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4

• Vehicle last seen heading to Swiss border

The news came as Zainab al-Hilli, seven, was said to have returned home to Britain with two family members and UK police officers after being considered well enough to travel.

She had suffered gun injuries to her shoulder and head in the attack near Annecy on 5 September.

But before she left, Zainab is reported to have met police investigators and told them that she only saw one person during the shootings.

Her claim appears to confirm the belief that the assassination was carried out by one man, and that it was likely the killer would have reloaded his gun at least once.

Zainab is understood to be the only witness to the shooting in which her engineer father, Saad al-Hilli, 50, died along with his wife, Iqbal, 47, his mother-in-law and a French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 45, Police said they had learned “some information” from Zai­nab, but British police also intended to speak to her.

Her sister, Zeena, four, who hid under her mother’s skirt for eight hours after they were shot, returned to the UK this week.

The news came on the same day it was reported that French police were looking for a British-registered car which was seen speeding away from the scene of the massacre in the French Alps.

French detectives said that a witness had seen a dark-coloured Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4 being driven by a “nervous-looking” man.

The car was first spotted near the village of Chevaline, where the al-Hilli family were executed.

It was then seen driving along the A39 motorway towards the city of Lyon.

However, last night police appeared to be distancing themselves from this line of inquiry.

Detectives, however, believe that the killers may have fled across the Swiss or Italian borders – both only an hour’s drive from the scene.

Yesterday, Annecy’s chief prosecutor, Eric Maillaud, also met his British counterparts working on the case in Woking, Surrey.

Mr Maillaud – who was accompanied by examining magistrate Michel Mollin, another senior member of the inquiry team – said: “Without any doubt, the reasons and causes [for the killings] have their origins in this country.”

Police have said that they were looking at three lines of inquiry, focusing on Mr al-Hilli’s work as an aerospace engineer, his family and his links to his native Iraq.

The aerospace engineer had been holidaying with his relatives at a campsite near Lake Annecy when they were attacked.