‘Dangerous’ female suspect in attacks no longer in France

A woman suspected of ties to this week’s terrorist attacks in Paris left France for Turkey prior to the violence, a Turkish intelligence official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

French police had conducted a massive manhunt Saturday for Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, the widow of an Islamist militant killed in a shootout with authorities on Friday. Police bulletins described her as armed and dangerous and said she was wanted in connection with Thursday’s shooting of a policewoman. 

{mosads}Boumedienne was apparently not in France during the attacks, which targeted satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish deli and killed 17 people. 

The Turkish intelligence official said a woman with Boumeddiene’s name and face flew to Istanbul on Jan. 2. She is believed to have traveled to a city on the Syrian border and the disappeared. The official spoke to The AP on the condition of anonymity. 

Boumedienne’s husband, Amedy Coulibaly, was shot dead by police after he took hostages at the kosher market. Le Monde reported that the two were married in a 2009 religious ceremony not recognized under French law. Boumedienne was also questioned in 2010 over possible links to terrorists, the paper said.

Coulibaly was reportedly part of the same terrorist cell as two brothers who orchestrated the attack on Charlie Hebdo. Boumedienne also had repeated contact with the wife of one of the brothers, Reuters reported.

This post was updated at 5:40 p.m.