10th January, 2015 : Police in France are hunting for any accomplices of the gunmen who killed 17 people in two days of terror attacks.
One key figure is Hayat Boumeddiene, the partner of Amedy Coulibaly, who was killed when police stormed a supermarket in Paris on Friday.
She was said to be with Coulibaly when a policewoman was killed and is described as “armed and dangerous”.
Two gunmen who carried out Wednesday’s deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine were killed by police on Friday.
President Francois Hollande on Friday praised the police but also warned of further threats.
He thanked the security services for their “bravery and efficiency” in dealing with the two sieges, saying the week’s violence was “a tragedy for the nation”.
Mr Hollande said the danger was not over yet. “We have to be vigilant. I also ask you to be united – it’s our best weapon,” he said in a televised
address on Friday night.
Francois Molins, the chief prosecutor in France, said authorities were urgently focusing on Boumeddiene, who is suspected of being with Coulibaly, 32, when the policewoman was killed in Paris on Thursday.
Both vanished after the shooting, but Coulibaly reappeared on Friday when he took several people hostage at the Hypercasher supermarket near Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris.
Footage captures the moment police raids ended both sieges
French newspaper Le Monde published a series of photographs said to show Coulibaly with Boumeddiene in 2010. In one, the 26-year-old woman is pictured pointing a crossbow at the camera while wearing a full-face veil, which is banned in France.
Mr Molins said the investigation would “focus on determining who their accomplices were, how these criminal actions were financed, and all the instruction and help they may have benefited from whether in France, from overseas”.
He said 16 people had been detained for questioning so far, including the wife of one of the Kouachi brothers and other members of their family.
French government ministers are meeting on Saturday morning to plan their next steps.
A number of world leaders have called Mr Hollande to express support.
Source : BBC
