(Reuters) - The suspected female accomplice of Islamist militants behind attacks in Paris was in Turkey five days before the killings and crossed into Syria on Jan. 8, Turkish officials said on Monday.
France launched a search for 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene after police killed her partner Amedy Coulibaly while storming a Jewish supermarket where he had taken hostages. Authorities described her as armed and dangerous.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in an interview on state-run Anatolian news agency's website, said Boumeddiene had arrived in Istanbul from Madrid on Jan. 2. Turkey had received no request from Paris to deny her access.
"There is footage (of her) at the airport. Later on, she stayed at a hotel with another person and crossed into Syria on Jan. 8. We can tell that based on telephone records," he said.