Montrouge suspect in same jihadi group as pair linked to Charlie Hebdo attack | World news | The GuardianMontrouge suspect in same jihadi group as pair linked to Charlie Hebdo attack | World news | The Guardian










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Charlie Hebdo attack



Montrouge suspect in same jihadi group as pair linked to Charlie Hebdo attack









Man who killed female police officer knew Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, pair suspected of carrying out Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, say French media

















Police inspect vehicles in Montrouge on Thursday. A policewoman was killed and a street sweeper injured in the attack. Photograph: Imago / Barcroft Media/imago/PanoramiC




Alexandra Topping


Friday 9 January 2015 08.00 EST







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The man suspected of killing a policewoman in a shooting in Montrouge, south of Paris, on Thursday was a member of the same jihadist group as the two suspects in the attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, French media are reporting. 
The man, who is believed to be armed and is still on the run, knew Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, the brothers suspected of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo massacre on Wednesday, a police source told Reuters on Friday. 
The man, wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying an assault rifle and a handgun, fled from the scene in a Renault Clio after the attack and is still on the run. The shooting took place on Thursday morning in Montrouge, a commune three miles south of Paris.
Witnesses reported seeing a collision between two cars before two men emerged, at least one armed with an automatic weapon and reportedly wearing a bullet-proof vest. A female traffic officer was killed after being shot in the back and a street sweeper was injured. 
Two people have been arrested in connection with the Montrouge shooting after an investigation by anti-terrorist authorities and police have identified a suspect. Two arrests were made in the department of Essonne, in the south of the greater Paris region – with those arrested said to have “very close links” to the suspected gunman, according to Le Point. 
The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, confirmed on Friday morning that “important elements” had been uncovered about the shooting.
According to Reuters, the three men were all members of the same Paris jihadist cell that a decade ago sent young French volunteers to Iraq to fight US forces. Chérif Kouachi served 18 months in prison for his role in the group. 
The agency reports that the suspect in the Montrouge attack was sentenced in 2010 for his role in a botched prison breakout of Smain Ali Belkacem, the perpetrator of a 1995 attack on the Paris transport system that killed eight people and wounded 120. 
Chérif Kouachi was also implicated in that breakout attempt, but his case was dropped. 
The French news agency Agence France-Presse reported that a police source has linked the Montrouge shooting to the Charlie Hebdo massacre. 


— Agence France-Presse (@AFP)
January 9, 2015
#BREAKING Paris policewoman killing linked to massacre brothers: police



Le Point is reporting that the Montrouge gunman and the Kouchai brothers were known to each other and were part of the same Jihadist network. 


— Le Point (@LePoint)
January 9, 2015
[INFO @LePoint ] Le tireur de #Montrouge et les frères #Kouachi se connaissent (même filière djihadiste) http://t.co/b5tnWDAJSv



The French radio station RTL has also linked the two attacks. Citing unnamed sources, it states that the gunman was an associate of the Kouachi brothers and in 2004-05 would have been part of the same “Buttes Charmont” group who organised for radicals to leave and fight in Iraq and Syria. 
Le Point reported: “It could therefore indicate a reactivation of the network which worked under the leadership of the preacher Farid Benyettou in the rue de Tanger mosque in the 19th arrondisment of Paris. The group was dismantled in 2005 by the inteligence services.”
Authorities believe Farid Benyettou was the leader of the “Nineteenth Arrondissement Iraqi Networks”, so named because certain members travelled from France to fight American forces in Iraq. The Washington Post reports that he worked as a janitor in a mosque in the 19th arrondisment of Paris where he met Chérif Kouachi, now 32.



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more on this story














Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video

File footage of one of the Paris gunmen, Cherif Kouachi, arriving at court in 2008 on charges of helping to funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency



Published: 13 Jan 2015




Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video












Analysis Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris

The radicalisation of the Kouachi brothers began in a picturesque park in the capital while Amédy Coulibaly took the first steps towards terrorism in prison, but what the three had in common was growing up on the margins of French society



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris












Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras

Officials try to pinpoint when and where cameras found in possession of Kouachi brothers and Amédy Coulibaly were obtained



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras












Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices

Mobilisation of 10,000 troops to guard potentially vulnerable locations comes as prime minister warns that ‘threat still present’



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices














Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly




Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly








Analysis Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based








Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis








Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends

Olivier Tonneau




Published: 13 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends
















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