Police killed three of the four suspects in the series of attacks in Paris this week in simultaneous raids on Friday. However, details about who they were and their possible motives were still continuing to emerge.
Here is a round-up of the suspects, what we knew about them, and the allegations they faced.
Said Kouachi
Said Kouachi was the elder of the two brothers who were wanted in connection with the attack on the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old and his 32-year-old brother, Cherif, were both born in Paris to Algerian parents. Witnesses to the shooting at Charlie Hebdo reported that the gunmen spoke perfect French.
Said Kouachi had been living in Reims, about 145 km northeast of Paris, and appears to have been unemployed. A local imam told The Associated Press that Said regularly attended prayers at a local mosque, but did not socialize with anyone while he was there.
Both French and Yemeni security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP that Said was suspected of having fought alongside al Qaeda militants in Yemen in recent years.
He is believed to have been in Yemen until 2012, when foreigners with suspected ties to militants were rounded up and deported. Whether Kouachi was caught up in that particular sweep remains unclear.
Cherif Kouachi
The younger Kouachi brother appears to also have been the brashest, with media reports suggesting he was a ladies man who wrote and performed rap music.
Cherif Kouachi was also well-known to law enforcement in France. He was found guilty in 2008 for his ties to a group that sent fighters to join militants in Iraq. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Before then, the former pizza deliveryman appeared in a 2005 documentary about Islamic extremism.
In the documentary, he credited a local preacher with instilling in him some of his radical views.
The cleric "told me that (holy) texts prove the benefits of suicide attacks," Kouachi was quoted as saying in the film. "It's written in the texts that it's good to die as a martyr."
While the exact motive for the attack on the newspaper remains unclear, the publication had been the subject of numerous threats over its cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed. Witnesses to the shooting reported hearing one gunman say they had avenged the Prophet while fleeing the scene.
Amedy Coulibaly
Coulibaly, aged 32, was the prime suspect in both the Thursday killing of a policewoman on the southern edge of Paris and in a hostage-taking Friday at a kosher market in eastern Paris.
Coulibaly was wanted on a charge of voluntary manslaughter in connection with a terrorist enterprise for the shooting death of the officer on avenue Pierre Brossolette in Montrouge on Thursday. A street sweeper who was nearby was wounded in the attack.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear.
Police named Coulibaly as the primary suspect in a hostage-taking at a market in the Porte de Vincennes neighbourhood.
On Friday evening, French security forces stormed the market, and the suspect is believed to have been killed.
Hayat Boumeddiene
Boumeddiene, aged 26, was named by Paris police as Coulibaly’s accomplice in the market hostage-taking. A woman was reported to be seen fleeing the market as police moved in.
It remains unclear if that was Boumeddiene.
