In an exclusive interview with the BBC, a member of the police assault team involved in Wednesday’s raid said Hasna Ait Boulahcen was “trying to say she was not linked to the terrorists, that she had nothing to do with them and wanted to surrender”.
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“The initial findings from the special police indicated that it (the suicide belt wearer) was her”, said the source.
Also, the family of a woman killed in a raid outside Paris claims she was not a suicide bomber.
One of them was believed to be her cousin, suspected plot leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, who also died during the seven-hour shootout.
“He’s not my boyfriend”, Aitboulahcen shouts back.
Hasna Ait Boulachen was originally accused of being a fanatical Islamic State operative with an explosive vest strapped to her body. It was widely reported to have been Aitboulahcen, but prosecutors have not confirmed this.
Speaking to AFP on Thursday, those close to her said they immediately recognised her voice from the recording. Her body parts were later found strewn across the road.
Her brother, who had barely spoken to his sister in five years, released a statement saying she was “living in her own world”. The story of the normal-seeming, if lost, young person who gets caught up in the fundamentalist cult teachings of ISIS is a standard tale.
Drancy is a town a short drive away from Aulnay-sous-Bois.
Hardly the face of Islamic conservatism she ultimately died in the name of, the “extrovert” was nicknamed the “cowgirl” because of her love of flashy hats and openly partied and drank alcohol up until her apparently recent conversion that saw her end up on French security services’ watch list.
Her father, a devout Muslim who had moved from Paris to work at the Peugeot carmaker, is now believed to be in Morocco.
Aware of her relationship with Abaaoud, immediately identified as the man behind the Friday 13 attacks, French intelligence service put her under immediate surveillance. “She was always in jeans and trainers”, he said.
He said: “I know the suicide bomber and she worked in KFC in Neuilly”.
“I think she had a very disturbed childhood, and she had a lot of problems”. Typical teenage behaviour was augmented by unusual habits. We can’t believe it. He has messed with her head. This first photo of Hasna, according to French local sources, is a glimpse at the cousin to Abdelhami Abaaoud – and the culturally-considered obscene hand gesture she’s throwing up.
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“It’s brainwashing”, her mother said of her daughter’s radicalisation.
