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French Police Hunt Female Accomplice of Kosher Store Hostage Taker

© AP Photo / Peter DejongTwo police officers stand guard a day after a terrorist attack on a kosher market in Paris, France, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015.
Two police officers stand guard a day after a terrorist attack on a kosher market in Paris, France, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015. - Sputnik International
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French police are looking for a female accomplice of a man, who took several people hostage at a Jewish supermarket in Paris on Friday and allegedly killed a policewoman a day earlier.

Members of the French police special force GIPN - Sputnik International
Charlie Hebdo Suspects Killed, Several Kosher Store Hostages Free: Reports
MOSCOW, January 10 (Sputnik) – French police are looking for a female accomplice of Amedy Coulibaly, who was killed during a police raid on a Jewish supermarket, where he held several people hostage, AFP reports.

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

Boumeddiene was allegedly with Coulibaly, when he reportedly killed a policewoman on Thursday. A day later, he took several people hostage at a kosher store, Hyper Cacher, near Porte de Vincennes in Paris. Four of them died before officers stormed the store. 15 people were reportedly rescued.

It remains unclear, whether Boumeddiene was at the Jewish supermarket at the time of the attack.

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.

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
According to the Guardian, Coulibaly also claimed that he "synchronized … operations" with Cherif and Said Kouachi, the brothers responsible for a deadly attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine, on Wednesday, which left 12 people killed and 11 injured.

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.

The Kouachis were killed during a police operation in Dammartin-en-Goele on Friday.

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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