President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday he wanted Islamic spree killer Mohamed Merah to be buried in France "without argument".

His remarks came after Algeria refused Merah´s body and Toulouse mayor Pierre Cohen raised objections to his being buried in the French city where he committed his crimes.

Merah killed seven people – three French paratroopers of Arab extraction and four Jewish civilians – in and around Toulouse in three separate attacks. Cohen said burying him in the city would be "inappropriate."

Merah was killed by a police sniper as he leapt from a window while firing on onrushing police special operations personnel seeking to end a 32-hour standoff. Three police officers were wounded in the initial exchange of fire that precipitated the long siege.

"He was French. Let him be buried and let´s not have any arguments about it," Sarkozy told BFMTV news channel in a bid to put the tragic episode that has eclipsed his re-election bid to rest.

"I´ve said what I think of Mohamed Merah, who behaved in a monstrous way," Sarkozy said of the Al-Qaeda-inspired gunman.

Sarkozy was responding to Cohen´s call for Merah´s burial at the southwestern city´s Cornebarrieu cemetery to be delayed a day pending a decision from the relevant authorities on whether it should go ahead.

"Following Algeria´s last minute refusal to accept Mohamed Merah´s body, Pierre Cohen feels that his burial within the city of Toulouse is inappropriate. So he has asked the regional prefect to delay the burial 24 hours," city hall said (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 03/29/12)