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The French, you say? Well read this, hot off the website of SKY NEWS in the UK:

Soldier Is Sniper Suspect

A French soldier who went missing on a holiday trip to America is reported to have matched an image of the serial sniper terrorising Washington.

The soldier is reported to have been identified as the man in a US police sketch of the gunman who has killed nine people in the Washington area since October 2.

French officials confirmed a 25-year-old soldier from the prestigious Saint-Cyr military academy deserted after leaving for a holiday to the US in August.

Academy

He did not return to the academy in the northern coastal region of Brittany, where he was training to be a second lieutenant in the army.

Fellow students are said to have identified the soldier from the sketch, which has not been made public.

But French Defence Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau could not confirm the reports.

"At this stage, we have absolutely no certainty that this military deserter is the Washington sniper," Bureau said.

"We have reported that a soldier training to be a second lieutenant at Saint-Cyr who left for a holiday in Canada and the United States in August did not return in September when classes resumed," the Bureau said.

French

Bureau did not give the man's name or town of origin but said he was French.

"There has been no contact between him and his family since he left for the United States," he added.

The man was reported as a deserter to police in October and his details were sent to the international police force, Interpol.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry declined to add further details, saying merely that French authorities were exchanging information with their US counterparts.

"We are naturally providing US authorities with all the information we possess," ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said.

Last Updated: 15:21 UK, Monday October 21, 2002