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Mohammed Merah had plenty of stamps in his passport, according to French intelligence officials. He traveled through at least seven Middle Eastern and central Asian countries on his way to Afghanistan in 2010.

It was a meandering journey that might have been a metaphor for a young man in search of a purpose and identity. But it's also clear that by then he had been exposed to a variety of jihadist influences.

The 23-year-old Frenchman was shot dead last Thursday after being cornered by police in Toulouse. By then he had murdered seven people in a series of gun attacks.

As more details emerge about his short and troubled life, French security services are examining family and local influences on Merah, as well as trying to establish who he may have met during that trip to Afghanistan and another two-month visit to Pakistan in 2011. Toulouse suspect died while shooting Bullet holes riddle Toulouse scene

Merah certainly never made any attempt to disguise his travels. While in Pakistan in October of last year, he even contacted a French intelligence official who wanted to interview him about his previous journey, saying he was there to look for a wife.

"As soon as I get back, I will contact you," he told his contact, according to Bernard Squarcini, the head of DRCI -- France's domestic security service.

After being hospitalized with hepatitis upon his return, Merah eventually sat down with French investigators, bringing a USB drive with photographs of what he said was his touristic journey across the regon.

But as the standoff unfolded in Toulouse last week, Merah told a very different story -- boasting to French police that he had been trained by al Qaeda in Waziristan, the tribal area of Pakistan where many European jihadists have gone. Merah said he had been trained by a solo instructor rather than in a camp because he would have stood out as a French speaker. But he also said there were other French militants in Waziristan, according to Squarcini.

He also claimed that "brothers in Pakistan" had supplied him with funds, helping him buy what he said were 20,000 euros (about $26,600) worth of weapons for his attacks. French police believe it is more likely he raised the funds through a series of temporary jobs and petty crime.

But who, if anyone, trained Merah? Was his rambling confession during the siege the invention of a young man with what his attorney calls signs of a "dual personality?" Or did his skill as a gunman suggest training somewhere?

"He's a Janus, two-faced. You have to go back to his broken childhood and psychiatric troubles. To carry out what he did smacks more of a medical problem and fantasy than a simple jihadist trajectory," Squarcini told the newspaper, Le Monde.

The Long Way to Kandahar

Merah's 2010 odyssey included Cairo, where his brother Abdelkader then lived, as well as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and even Israel, where according to French officials he was briefly detained and relieved of a knife by police. Israeli officials have not confirmed he was there.

French officials say pest controlMerah entered Afghanistan in the fall of 2010 through its northern border with Tajikistan, and traveled south to the Taliban heartland in Kandahar.

That's when he first appeared on French security services' radar, according to Squarcini, who told Le Monde that Merah was detained at a roadblock while traveling with a group of Afghans in November 2010. He was transferred to American custody and put on a plane back to Kabul, returning to France on December 5, 2010.

French officials have not publicly disclosed any evidence that Merah developed ties to al Qaeda or other terrorist outfits during his two trips. Nor has any "proof of mission" video yet surfaced featuring Merah, though such releases have sometimes taken many months.

However, Richard Barrett, the coordinator of the U.N. Sanctions Committee on al Qaeda and the Taliban, told CNN there were indications that Merah appeared to have had contacts with militants in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. And Le Monde cited security sources as saying that he may have been in touch with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.