French authorities are confirming he’s acting out of “religious conviction.”

(Naharnet) — A man claiming to be an al-Qaida militant took four hostages at a bank in the southern French city Toulouse on Wednesday and wants to negotiate with an elite police unit, police said.

Later on Wednesday, the militant released one of the four hostages.

A woman was freed and talks were on to secure the release of the three other hostages, police and interior ministry sources said.

The man entered the bank around 0900 GMT, fired a gun and wants to talk to the RAID police unit that shot dead al-Qaida-inspired gunman Mohamed Merah in March at his flat, which is in the same neighborhood as the bank.

Merah was killed at the end of a 32-hour siege of his flat after he shot dead seven people — three soldiers, three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse — in a wave of killings that shocked the country.

The 23-year-old who claimed to be an al-Qaida militant filmed himself carrying out the attacks and reportedly confessed to police before he was shot dead.