World

Gunman's family condemns acts

16:00 pm on 11 January 2015

The mother and sisters of one of the gunman involved in the French terror attacks have condemned his actions and have offered their sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

Flowers and signs that read, "Je suis Charlie", "I am police", "I am mourning", I am Jewish", near a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris. Photo: AFP

French police say Amedy Coulibaly was the gunman behind yesterday's hostage siege at a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

Four hostages were killed and he was shot dead when the police stormed the store.

AAP reports he was also wanted over the killing of a police officer in Paris last week.

In a statement his family have said they do not share his extreme ideas and hope there will not be any confusion between what they called "these odious acts" and the Muslim religion.

Suspect thought to be in Syria - sources

A suspected accomplice of the gunmen behind this week's attacks in Paris left France several day before the killings and is believed to be in Syria, according to Turkish and French sources.

Police are still searching for Hayat Boumeddiene, left, who is said to be gunman Amedy Coulibaly's partner. Photo: AFP

After killing the gunmen behind the worst assault in the country for decades, French police launched an intensive search for Hayat Boumeddiene, the partner of one of the attackers, describing her as "armed and dangerous".

But a source familiar with the situation said that the 26-year-old left France last week and travelled to Syria via Turkey, reports Reuters.

"On January 2, a woman corresponding to her profile and presenting a piece of identity took a flight from Madrid to Istanbul."

The source said she was accompanied by a man and had a return ticket for 9 January but never took the flight.

A senior Turkish security official said Paris and Ankara were now cooperating in trying to trace her but said she arrived in Istanbul without any warning from France.

"After they informed us about her ... we identified her mobile phone signal on Jan 8," the source said.

"We think she is in Syria at the moment but we do not have any evidence about that ... She is most probably not in Turkey."

Security forces remain on high alert before a march on Paris on Sunday that will bring together European leaders in a show of solidarity for the 17 victims killed in the three days of violence.

The violence began with an attack on the Charlie Hebdo weekly on Wednesday and ended with Friday's dual sieges at a print works outside Paris and a kosher supermarket in the city.