Mohammed Merah, the man who confessed to police that he killed 7 people in France before being shot dead in an armed standoff. Photo: screenshot via France 2.

Before murdering 7 people in France earlier this year, including 3 Jewish children in Toulouse, Mohammed Merah reportedly made contact with someone in Israel, according to documents seen by the French newspaper Le Monde.

Using a cell phone registered to his mother, Merah contacted nearly 180 people in 20 different countries, including Israel, between September 2010 and February of 2011.  The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed in March that Merah had been questioned during a trip to Israel in 2010, while on his way to Afghanistan.

Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, admitted to killing 4 people at a Jewish school in Southern France, along with 3 others in March of this year, before being killed in an armed standoff with French police.

The confidential papers seen by Le Monde were produced by the French intelligence agency DCRI, indicating Merah may not have acted alone in his killing spree.  Calls were made to Kenya, Kazhakstan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Morocco,  between September of 2010 and February of 2011.

Papers seen by Le Monde also show that Merah traveled to a Salafist school in Egypt while under surveillance by intelligence services.