Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Updated 8.15pm
ONE OF THE key accomplices of the gunmen responsible for three days of terror attacks may have been in Turkey at the time of the attacks, it has emerged.
Hayat Boumeddiene — the partner of the attacker behind yesterday’s siege at a Jewish supermarket in Paris — was today being hunted by French police.
However it is now understood the woman may be in Syria with sources telling AFP that she was in Turkey at the time of the attacks. It is tbelieved she arrived in Turkey before the killings and then fled to Syria.
“She entered Turkey on January 2,” a source said, adding that she was believed to have moved on to the southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa and then to Syria but there was “no concrete data” to prove it.
The source said Turkey did not arrest her because of a lack of intelligence from France. “We do not have the luxury to prevent everyone entering without intelligence sharing,” the source said.
Members of the French government meet this morning to decide on new measures aimed at thwarting a repeat of the attacks, which culminated in a massacre of 12 people at a satirical newspaper, and yesterday’s supermarket attack — which left four hostages dead.
World leaders have phoned President Francois Hollande to express their personal sympathies. Tomorrow, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s David Cameron as well as Italy’s Matteo Renzi, and Spain’s Mariano Rajoy have agreed to join in a unity rally in central Paris.
With explosions and gunfire, security forces yesterday ended the three days of terror, killing the two al-Qaida-linked brothers who staged a murderous rampage at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and an accomplice — Amedy Coulibaly — who seized hostages at the kosher supermarket to try to help the brothers escape.
Twenty people are dead, including the three gunmen.
Boumeddiene — the common law wife of Coulibaly — was said to be with him when a policewoman was killed in Paris on Thursday but this is now not believed to be the case.
Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen said it directed the attack against the publication Charlie Hebdo to avenge the honor of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly’s satire.
The brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi —- shot dead yesterday as they came out of a warehouse shooting at police —- were not unknown to authorities: one had a terrorism-related conviction for ties to a network sending fighters to battle American forces in Iraq, and both were on the US no-fly list, according to a US official.
Hollande urged his nation to remain united and vigilant, and the city shut down a central Jewish neighbourhood following fears of more violence.
“The threats facing France are not finished,” Hollande said. “We are a free people who don’t cave to pressure.”
Associated Press, with additional reporting by Daragh Brophy and Michelle Hennessy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
leglaise it tax it and control it and watch the country better it’s self from the extra revenue from it look at the likes of America and put 1 step forward not 10 steps back as normal
@Mick Mccabe: “look at the likes of America” with rose tinted glasses?
@Mick Mccabe: Good idea and use the money to match the plant pots in Grafton Street that are in north Dublin.
@Mick Mccabe: Amen.
@Mick Mccabe: is that not just for medicinal use in the US?
@GerryCummins: “The non-medical use of cannabis is legal in 9 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) plus the District of Columbia, and decriminalized in another 13 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
@Mick Mccabe: if they legalized big pharma industry would collapse that is what it is all about money..
Ive never seen a stoner attack anything at 3 am other than a burger, yet perfectly legal to down a gut full of vodka n redbull and strut out the club like your connor mcgregor looking for trouble! Some logic
@Jonathan Whelan: seen plenty that couldnt string a sentence together though….you know wharra mean man..yeah man…
@GerryCummins: true enough, but they aint the ones clogging up A&E’s and urinating n vomiting after clubs in a town near you!
Once again, Gardaí resources being wasted on combatting something that should be legal, regulated, and taxed.
@Todd Hebert: also, were it legal these growhouses wouldn’t exist
@Todd Hebert:
The Gardai did the right thing to shut down this criminal enterprise run id imagine not by cheech and chong but by gangs. It should of course be legalised so Gardai can target heroin and coke dealers but the political will isnt there. The yanks got it made illegal originally and ironically they are now the ones legalising it.
Legalise the stuff for God’s sake.
Legalise it; refine it, tax it and build hospitals; schools and homes.
Junkies? It’s weed for crying out loud, should be legalized…
2.7 million……stop
I can smell it from here!, anyone out there with menopausal symptoms I would recommend giving it a go!….
I think cannabis should be legal for many medical conditions. The therapeutic window (dose of a drug between a medical effect and a toxic effect) of cannabis is very narrow, that’s why it is used with caution. Any therapeutic drugs – natural or synthetic need to be used with wisdom, not recreation, because all drugs have side effects.
@Ania_on_coffee: I take your point, but you must understand cannabis is lovely.
@Honeybadger197: We should legalize it to everyone because it’s lovely? LOL I’m sure it’s probably lovely yes
@Ania_on_coffee: An occasional bowl is a beautiful thing.
@Honeybadger197:
@Fake Avast: It’s illegal in Ukraine. But some people grow it in the countryside in their backgardens. As for Russia – i don’the know.
@ Ania
I think you are not correct. The difference between medical and toxic effect in cannabis is very wide.
Cannabis does not have a toxic effect on the body unless the dose is huge, More than you could physically take!
Excellent news.
Great
Can you imagine if the country was run by stoners?
Nothing would ever get done.
@nichalo
Yeah man that richard branson and steve jobs never got anything done right
@Niccolo Saccho:
I disagree. Although it’s an individual thing I guess. I tend to use pot mostly whilst doing activities. Not driving of course.
@Niccolo Saccho: totally agree. No rapes, no senseless domestic violence, no pissing puking on the streets.
What horror it would be to live in a country where no such thing would be done!
have your say