The seven-year-old British girl who survived a gun attack in the French Alps last week that saw her father and mother shot dead in their car is out of a coma and will be questioned by police as soon as she is able.
French and British police continued their search of the family house of Saad al-Hilli, the Iraqi-born British driver who was shot twice in the head along with his wife, an older woman and a passing cyclist on Wednesday.
"She (Zainab) has come out of her artificial coma and she is now sedated," State Prosecutor Eric Maillaud said.
He said an uncle and aunt of Zainab, who had suffered serious skull fractures in the attack, were by her side at the hospital in Grenoble.
Mr Maillaud said her youngest sister, four-year-old Zeena, who survived unscathed after the shootings on a remote forest road near the village of Chevaline, had now returned to Britain.
Police hope Zainab will eventually provide more information on the shootings.
Mr Maillaud said a family feud over money was one of several motives still being considered for the murders and Mr Hilli's brother had been formally questioned.
The brother has denied any dispute with Mr Hilli, who lived in Surrey, south of London.
