French gunman and wife holidayed in Malaysia, says report

A call for witnesses released by the Paris Prefecture de Police January 9, 2015 shows the photos of Hayat Boumeddiene (left) and Amedy Coulibaly. – Reuters pic, January 10, 2015.

Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who was shot dead after taking hostages at a Paris kosher grocery store, once holidayed in Malaysia with his wife, CNN reported today.

Hayat Boumeddiene is now on the run and has become France's most wanted woman.

Coulibaly is one of three terrorists who brought France to a halt in 48 hours of bloodshed.

CNN reported that 26-year-old Boumeddiene was on the run and considered armed and dangerous.

Coulibaly died in a hail of bullets along with four hostages in the storming of the Jewish supermarket by French security forces.

According to judicial documents, a police search of Coulibaly's residence in 2010 turned up a crossbow, 240 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, films and photos of him during a trip to Malaysia, as well as letters seeking false official documents.

However, Boumeddiene eluded capture during the confusion as the hostages were running away, CNN reported.

The Daily Mail reported that Coulibaly and Boumedienne had married in a religious ceremony, not in a civil ceremony – the only marriage legally accepted in France.

While Coulibaly had a well-documented track record, Boumeddiene remains a shadowy figure.

However, the one-time cashier was reportedly radicalised after meeting Coulibaly.

Boumedienne is of Algerian background and had altered her surname to “make it sound more French”, the Daily Mail quoted an investigating source as saying.

She told police who had interviewed her as part of their inquiries into Coulibaly’s murky dealings with Islamic extremists that in 2009, she had walked away from a low-paid job as a cashier in Paris.

After marrying Coulibay, Boumedienne “devoted herself” to him, the Daily Mail reported.

Interrogated by police in 2010, Boumeddiene said she was inspired by her husband and the radicals she lived with to “read a lot of books on religion”.

"Because of this, I came to ask questions on religion," Boumedienne reportedly told police.

"When I saw the massacre of the innocents in Palestine, in Iraq, in Chechnya, in Afghanistan or anywhere the Americans sent their bombers, all that… well, who are the terrorists?"

She added that when Americans killed innocents, it was the right of men to defend their women and children.

Always cool and composed, Boumeddiene had never wavered under police cross-examination.

To neighbours, the pair were quiet, respectful and normal and had even gone on a holiday to Malaysia together, according to the Daily Mail.

- TMI