10 Jan 2015

Who is female terror suspect Hayat Boumeddiene?

Police are continuing to hunt for Hayat Boumeddienne – the girlfriend of one of the gunmen in the Paris massacres – but how much do we know about her?

Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, who killed 12 people at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, were shot dead by police on Friday afternoon after a tense stand-off on an industrial estate.

In a co-ordinated swoop, moments later elite armed officers clad all in black stormed a Jewish supermarket where their accomplice Amedy Coulibaly was holding 19 people hostage inside.

‘Crossbow’

Prosecutors on Friday night confirmed the authorities are still searching for Coulibaly’s girlfriend accomplice, Hayat Boumeddiene, who is believed to be on the run. She was thought to be involved in the murder of a female police officer south of Paris on Thursday morning.

However, a source familiar with the situation on Saturday, said she had left France last week and traveled to Syria via Turkey.

Above: French newspaper Le Monde claims this is a photo of Boumeddiene with a crossbow taken in 2010

Little is known about the 26-year-old. She is believed to have been in a relationship with Coulibaly for more than four years and is said to have lived in his apartment while he was serving his prison term.

According to Le Monde, Boumeddienne said they had previously practised firing crossbows in the countryside while visiting Islamic radical Beghal. She was previously interviewed by anti-terror police, it was reported.