TOULOUSE school shooting suspect Mohamed Merah died today after jumping from his window, gun in hand, in a fierce shootout with French police.

Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the suspect, who claimed links to al Qaida, jumped out after police entered the Toulouse apartment and found him holed up in the bathroom.

The death of Mohamed Merah, 23, ended a more than 32-hour siege with an elite police squad trying to capture him alive.

“The killer came out of the bathroom, firing with extreme violence,” Gueant said, adding that the RAID squad had “never seen an assault like it”.

The volley of gunfire resounded throughout the neighbourhood and two police officers were wounded in the firefight.

Gueant said police “went in by the door, taking off the door first. They also came in by the windows”.

He said police used special video equipment to search the second-floor apartment but found him nowhere, until the special instruments surveyed the bathroom.

“The killer came out” firing “with extreme violence,” Gueant told reporters. Police “tried to protect themselves and fired back.”

“Mohamed Merah jumped out the window, gun in hand, continuing to fire. He was found dead on the ground,” Gueant said.

Gueant said the suspect had told the police last night that he would not surrender and that he would kill police if they try to arrest him.