France most wanted woman criminal hides behind burqa

Paris: A crossbow in her hands and covered head-to-toe in a black Islamic headwear and robe that leaves only her eyes visible, that is the image now circulating of France’s most wanted woman: Hayat Boumeddiene. The 26-year-old is the partner of Amedy Coulibaly, one of the three gunmen shot dead by police after three days of high drama in France.

The photo, first published by Le Monde, contrasts with the one French police issued in its public appeal to locate her following the bloody events of Friday, when Coulibaly was killed by police commandos after he took hostages in a Jewish supermarket.

The police notice warns that Boumeddiene, now France’s most-wanted woman, is considered “armed and dangerous”. She is suspected of being Coulibaly’s accomplice in the murder of a policewoman in southern Paris on Thursday, during a massive manhunt for two brothers who a day earlier massacred 12 people at the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Police also suspect she might have been involved in Coulibaly’s supermarket hostage-taking, though she was not identified among the dead or wounded. Coulibaly and Boumeddiene were seen together in Paris on Thursday getting out of a taxi, a source said.

Investigators are now going through telephone records and wiretaps, and other material seized during searches, to determine the extent of the complicity and anyone else who might be connected to the gunmen. She had a religious ceremony in 2009 to “marry” Coulibaly, though such unions are not recognised in France unless preceded by an official ceremony.

By: AFP