Wife of Hyper Cacher terrorist escapes from jihadist prison in Syria — monitor

PARIS — Thirteen female suspected jihadists from France have escaped from prisons in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria, a Paris-based anti-terror monitor said Wednesday.

They included Hayat Boumedienne, the wanted partner of Amedy Coulibaly, who was one of the perpetrators of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in France, the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism (CAT) told AFP.

The 13, who were mainly held in the Al-Hol and Ain-Issa camps, accounted for about a tenth of the French suspected jihadist women held in Syria, said Jean-Charles Brisard, one of the co-founders of CAT.

He told AFP the women’s escape showed the “inability of the local authorities to guarantee the detention of foreign jihadists.”

“The main risk is that the jihadists will disperse and either reinforce jihadist organizations in Syria or Iraq, try to wage jihad somewhere else, or, in some cases, return clandestinely to Europe to commit attacks,” he added.

In this undated picture, Hayat Boumedienne, is seen holding what appears to be a crossbow. (Photo screenshot: Itele)

Brisard said there were other prominent figures among the 13 women.

“Some were married to well-known jihadists, others made propaganda and appeared in the magazines of the Islamic State group.”

Amedy Coulibaly in January 2015 opened fire at the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four people, a day after he killed a young policewoman in Paris.

The four victims of the Paris Hyper Cacher attack, from left to right: Yoav Hattab, Yohan Cohen, Francois-Michel Saada, Philippe Braham. (Courtesy)

He was killed by security forces.

The supermarket siege came two days after the massacre at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly where 12 people were killed by jihadist brothers.

A policeman stands guard on January 21, 2015, in front the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket where jihadist gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed four Jewish men on January 9, 2015 in Paris. (AFP/Eric Feferberg)

Hayat Boumedienne was the center of international attention in 2015 after it emerged that just before the attacks she had entered Turkey at an Istanbul airport and passed by land into Syria without ever being stopped.

There had been speculation that she had died after spending time around the Iraq-Syria border region but other reports then emerged that she had been seen in Al-Hol.

She is one of several people due to be tried in absentia from September in a trial in Paris dealing with the January 2015 attacks.