France's government urged the nation to remain vigilant Saturday, as thousands of security forces try to thwart new attacks and hunt down a suspected accomplice in a rampage by terrorists linked to al-Qaeda in Yemen that scarred the nation and left 20 dead.
Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, wed Amedy Coulibaly in an Islamic religious ceremony in July 2009 — a union not recognized by French law. Coulibaly was killed by police Friday, and a circular distributed by French police said Boumeddiene should be considered dangerous and potentially armed.
She is the possible key to helping authorities dismantle what could be a terrorist network.
Boumeddiene has never been convicted of a crime, officials said, but judicial records obtained by The Associated Press say she was very close to Islamic radicals known to French internal security services, and once posed for a photo in her Islamic veil and holding a crossbow.
The records show that she had also been interrogated by French officials about her reaction to terrorist acts committed by al-Qaeda.
"I don't have any opinion," she answered, according to the records, but immediately added that innocent people were being killed by the Americans and needed to be defended, and that information provided by the media was suspect.
At dusk Friday, Boumeddiene's 32-year-old husband was killed by police who stormed a kosher market in eastern Paris and freed the gunman's hostages. French prosecutors said Coulibaly had killed four people at the grocery.
At virtually the same hour near the Charles de Gaulle airport outside the French capital, two brothers suspected of killing 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper on Wednesday died in a shootout with police.
Francois Molins, the Paris public prosecutor, said Friday that the links between Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers became clear to authorities after they discovered Boumeddiene and the female companion of one of the Kouachis had exchanged about 500 phone calls.
Huge solidarity demonstration expected Sunday
Security forces are deployed around the capital, guarding places of worship and tourist sites, and preparing for what's likely to be a huge demonstration Sunday to show unity against extremists. World leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel and Britain's David Cameron are among the many expected to join.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve insisted Saturday that authorities will do everything to ensure security at the event. Speaking after an emergency security meeting called by French President Francois Hollande on Saturday morning, he called for "extreme vigilance," saying that "given the context, we are exposed to risks."
Two police officers stand guard a day after the terrorist attack on a kosher market in Paris on Saturday. (Peter Dejong/Associated Press)
Cazeneuve said the government is deploying hundreds of troops in addition to thousands of police and other security forces and maintaining its terror alert system at the highest level in the Paris region.
He said investigators are focusing on determining whether the attackers were part of a larger extremist network. Five people are in custody as part of the investigation, and family members of the attackers are among several given preliminary charges so far.
Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen said it directed Wednesday's attack against the publication Charlie Hebdo to avenge the honour of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly's satire.
French radio RTL released audio Saturday of Coulibaly, in which he lashes out over Western military campaigns against extremists in Syria and Mali. He describes Osama bin Laden as an inspiration.
A drama-filled week
This week's drama, which played out on live TV and social media, began with the brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi coldly and methodically massacring 12 people Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo offices before fleeing.
Police identified the suspects of the Charlie Hebdo massacre as Cherif Kouachi, left, and his brother, Said. (Prefecture de Police de Paris/Associated Press)
They eluded police for two days, robbing a gas station and stealing a car. Cherif Kouachi was wounded in the throat by police at one point, the Paris prosecutor said, but the brothers got away. They went on to take a hostage at a printing house in Dammartin-en-Goele near Charles de Gaulle Airport on Friday, prompting a daylong standoff with police.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Coulibaly shot a policewoman to death south of Paris. He, too, fled. Police later determined he was linked to the Kouachi brothers.
Then Friday he attacked the Paris kosher market, killing four hostages and threatening more violence unless the police let the Kouachis go.
It all ended at dusk Friday with near-simultaneous raids at the printing plant and the kosher market in eastern Paris.
As scores of black-clad security forces surrounded both sites, booming explosions, heavy gunfire and dense smoke heralded the news that the twin sieges had ended.
The three gunmen were dead — but the authorities also discovered four dead hostages at the market. Sixteen hostages were freed, one from the printing plant and 15 from the store.
The attackers epitomized Western authorities' greatest fear: Islamic radicals who trained abroad and came home to stage attacks. France counts at least 1,200 citizens in the war zone in Syria — headed there, returned or dead. Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda have threatened France, home to Western Europe's largest Muslim population.
AQAP says it directed attack
A member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula gave a statement in English to The Associated Press saying the group's leadership "directed the operations and they have chosen their target carefully."
The attack on the kosher market came before sundown on the Jewish Sabbath, when the store would have been crowded with shoppers, and Hollande called it "a terrifying anti-Semitic act."
According to a Yemeni security official, Said Kouachi is suspected of having fought for al-Qaeda in Yemen. Another senior security official added that Said was in Yemen until 2012.
Both officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into Kouachi's stay in Yemen.
The attacks in France, as well as a hostage siege last month in Sydney and the October killing of a soldier near Canada's parliament, prompted the U.S. State Department to issue a global travel warning for Americans. It also cited an increased risk of reprisals against U.S. and Western targets for the U.S.-led intervention against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
The publication Charlie Hebdo had long drawn threats for its depictions of Islam, although it also lampooned other religions and political figures. Charlie Hebdo plans a special edition next week, produced in the offices of another paper.
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