Hayat Boumeddiene used to be an anonymous woman in France – now the the mysterious 26-year-old is being hunted by French security forces.
Boumeddiene has been named as the partner of Amedy Coulibaly, the man who attacked a kosher supermarket in Paris.
She is a suspected accomplice of the three men involved in multiple attacks around Paris last week.
She and Coulibaly are suspects in the killing of a policewoman on Thursday, the same day their accomplices killed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper office.
Four hostages in the supermarket were killed during the siege, as was Coulibaly.
While Boumeddiene is suspected of having had a role in her partner’s attacks, several Turkish security sources say Boumeddiene was already outside France when the killing spree began.
Turkey has confirmed that Hayat Boumeddiene travelled through Turkey last week on her way to Syria.
This new footage allegedly shows Boumeddiene at an airport in Istanbul (post continues after video):
This information aside, not much is known about the young woman with the sullen, empty stare in the many photographs circulating on the internet.
London’s The Telegraph newspaper said Boumeddiene had already met Coulibaly in 2010 when he was arrested over his attempt to break a convicted terrorist out of jail.
After he was released, the couple moved in together, living in a Paris suburb.
According to the Paris Public Prosecutor’s office, over the past year Boumeddiene has exchanged 500 telephone calls with the wife of Cherif Kouachi, one of the two suspected Charlie Hebdo gunmen.
Associated Press has said Boumeddiene and Coulibaly had also visited Djamel Beghal, a convicted Al Qaeda terrorist, while he was under house arrest in southern France.
During that visit, they took a series of photographs which French newspaper Le Monde published.
They say the woman wearing the niqab is Boumeddiene, but that has not been independently verified.
A version of this post originally appeared on the ABC and has been republished with permission.
Top Comments
She's not "mysterious". She's sly, creepy and devious.
And it's "now the" not "now the the" as it says above.
There is no way that this woman could have used a burqa to escape ? I mean no one would ever do that? Question , which of the following would Mohammad find more offensive 1. One of his flock living with his girlfriend in sin? 2. Murdering innocent people and shouting his name as they kill ? 3. Shooting a surrendered Muslim lying on the footpath asking for mercy ? 4. Strapping bombs to 10 year old girls? 5. A cartoon showing his image? Perhaps one of our Muslim friends can answer this one.
All of the above?
Actually, I misread your comment. I told you what I find offensive, I don't speak on behalf of anyone else
Are you kidding?. Do you have an opinion? That is how a debate is had. You say something i disagree with and vice versa. Well I am going to speak on behalf og Mohammad, he would say number 5 is irrelevant, not important and on a scale of evil is a 1/100 irritant, whereas the others are 100/100.