Authorities respond to Monday's killings at French Jewish school. Photo: screenshot via msnbc.

Early on Wednesday, French officials confirmed that Mohammed Merah, who has confessed to killing 7 French citizens and is currently engaged in a standoff with police, had traveled to Afghanistan on two occasions.

According to French prosecutor Francois Molins, Merah was handed over to the U.S. Army in Afghanistan “who put him on the first plane headed to France.”

However, Fran Townsend of CNN reported that a U.S. military official said Merah was stopped by Afghan Police but the U.S. instructed the Afghans to turn him over to the French military because he is a citizen of France.  The U.S. source said that the French military decided to put him on a plane back to France.