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Paris Gunman's Girlfriend Crosses Syrian Border: Reports

© AFP 2023 / THOMAS SAMSONA photo taken on January 9, 2015 shows a general view of members of the French police special forces launching the assault at a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris
A photo taken on January 9, 2015 shows a general view of members of the French police special forces launching the assault at a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris - Sputnik International
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A girlfriend of a gunman, who fatally shot a female police officer on the outskirts of Paris and four hostages at a kosher shop, crossed the border to Syria on January 8.

Two police officers stand guard a day after a terrorist attack on a kosher market in Paris, France, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015. - Sputnik International
French Police Hunt Female Accomplice of Kosher Store Hostage Taker
MOSCOW, January 10 (Sputnik) — Hayat Boumeddiene, a girlfriend of the gunman who fatally shot a female police officer in the Paris suburb of Montrouge and four hostages at a kosher shop in the French capital, has traveled to Syria, the French RTL radio station reported Saturday.

Boumeddiene, who is wanted in France for allegedly aiding her boyfriend, crossed the border to Syria on January 8, the radio station said. According to RTL, it is unlikely that the 26-year-old woman participated in the attacks, as she had booked a ticket for a Madrid-Istanbul flight on January 2.

The French authorities described Hayat Boumeddiene, believed to be Coulibaly’s girlfriend, as "armed and dangerous", according to AFP.

On Thursday, a female police officer was killed near Paris in an attack reportedly linked to that at the Charlie Hebdo office the previous day, when 12 people were fatally shot.

At least two people are feared killed and one person reportedly injured as at least five people have been taken hostage in a kosher store in eastern Paris - Sputnik International
Paris Kosher Shop Hostage-Taker Wants Charlie Hebdo Suspects Freed: Reports
The suspect in the police officer's murder, 32-year-old Amedy Coulibaly, proceeded to take hostages in a kosher supermarket the following day, killing four, and was fatally shot by police during a raid.

A man claiming to be Coulibaly spoke to BFM TV, a French news channel, during the hostage crisis. He said that he was a member of the Islamic State (IS), a radical Sunni group, controlling large parts of Iraq and Syria. The organization is notorious for its brutality.

Coulibaly met Cherif Kouachi in jail in 2005, according to the International Business Times. In 2013, the former was sentenced to five years in prison for a failed attempt to help Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, an Algerian Islamist, escape from prison. However, he was released early. Boumeddienne and Coulibaly were married in a religious ceremony, though the couple was not officially registered.

Boumeddiene and Cherif Kouachi’s girlfriend made over 500 calls to one another in 2014, AFP reports, citing Francois Molins, Paris’ chief prosecutor.

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