French police say at least 6 terror suspects may be on the loose

(Image credit: Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

published 13 January 2015

French police say that as many as six members of the terrorist cell involved in the Paris attacks last week could be at large.

Officials didn't name any of the suspected cell members, but did say that one was spotted driving the Mini Cooper registered to Hayat Boumeddiene, widow of the gunman who killed a policewoman and four men at a kosher supermarket. Police are now searching for that vehicle, and thousands have been deployed to offer extra protection at Jewish schools and other sensitive sites.

Boumeddiene arrived in Turkey Jan. 2, and slipped into Syria last Thursday, The Associated Press reports. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a state-run news agency that Boumeddiene stayed in an Istanbul hotel before crossing into Syria, and was accompanied across the border by a 23-year-old man identified as Mehdy Sabry Belhoucine. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said finding all of the cell members is a top priority as "the threat is still present" from the attacks.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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