Ankara : Hayat Boumedienne, the wife of the French terrorist who died in the shootout with police last week after taking hostages in a Jewish supermarket, stayed in Istanbul this month before travelling to Syria, the Turkish government confirmed Monday.
Boumedienne arrived in Turkey from Madrid Jan 2 and stayed in an Istanbul hotel before continuing on to Syria Jan 8, Turkish Foreign Minister Mehmet Cavusoglu told local press.
Cavusoglu also confirmed there was airport footage showing Boumedienne’s arrival in Turkey, as well as evidence that she crossed the border into Syria.
“We understand this thanks to telephone recordings,” Çavusoglu told the Anadolu news agency Monday, adding that all information had been shared with the French authorities.
She was travelling in the company of a man identified as Mehdi Sabri Belhoucine, and both of them left the hotel only twice during their stay in Istanbul, Hürriyet newspaper reported.
Boumedienne, 26,is the widow of gunman Amedy Coulibaly who killed a policewoman and then four hostages at the Paris supermarket before he was killed when commandos stormed the store.
The assault occurred almost simultaneously with the police operation north of the French capital in which the two Islamist gunmen who massacred 12 people at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine were killed.