Report: French have identified 4th Paris attacker after safe-house search

(Image credit: Police judiciaire via Getty Images)

published 15 January 2015

A week before Amedy Coulibaly killed a French policewoman and then four hostages at a Parisian kosher supermarket, he rented a cottage in Gentilly, a town south of Paris. When police raided the safe house after the attacks (and Coulibaly's death), they found an arsenal of recent-vintage assault rifles, grenade launchers, and explosives, The Associated Press reports. And according to France's Le Parisien, they also seized a scooter that allowed them to identify "the fourth man," Coulibaly's accomplice.

Le Parisien did not give a name for this alleged accomplice, but said he has a long rap sheet, possibly shot and seriously wounded a jogger in Fontenay-aux-Roses on Jan. 7, may have been involved in the kosher-market attack, and might have escaped to Syria, where Coulibaly widow Hayat Boumeddiene is also believed to be hiding.

In a video released after his death, Coulibaly pledged fealty to Islamic State. A member of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which claimed responsibility for the parallel attack by brothers Chérif and Said Kouachi, tells The New York Times that any coordination was done by Coulibaly and the Kouachis, not between rivals AQAP and ISIS. French police believe as many as six members of the same terrorist cell may still be at large.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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