Discreet burial for 'Charlie Hebdo' terrorist in France
Said Kouachi was the elder brother of Cherif Kouachi. Together, the two gunned down 12 people in their Jan. 7 attack.
"Given the risk of disturbance of the peace and in order to quickly turn the page of this tragic episode, it was decided to do the burial quickly," the city said in a statement Saturday.
Earlier in the week, Reims mayor Arnaud Robinet said he would "categorically refuse" a request by Kouachi's family to bury Said in the town located about 90 miles east of Paris. Said Kouachi had lived there before police killed him and his brother in a Jan. 9 standoff.
State officials arranged the burial in an unmarked grave in an unidentified area designated for Muslims in one of the city's cemeteries, Robinet told the New York Times.
"I am angry," Robinet told the Times. "But the state ordered me to accept, and I did."One of the terrorists responsible for deadly attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was buried in a discreet and under-the-radar ceremony in France despite concerns that the grave could become a shrine for extremists.
Said Kouachi was the elder brother of Cherif Kouachi. Together, the two gunned down 12 people in their Jan. 7 attack.
"Given the risk of disturbance of the peace and in order to quickly turn the page of this tragic episode, it was decided to do the burial quickly," the city said in a statement Saturday.
Earlier in the week, Reims mayor Arnaud Robinet said he would "categorically refuse" a request by Kouachi's family to bury Said in the town located about 90 miles east of Paris. Said Kouachi had lived there before police killed him and his brother in a Jan. 9 standoff.
State officials arranged the burial in an unmarked grave in an unidentified area designated for Muslims in one of the city's cemeteries, Robinet told the New York Times.
"I am angry," Robinet told the Times. "But the state ordered me to accept, and I did."Antoine Flasaquier, a lawyer for Kouachi's widow, said the burial took place overnight and that Flasaquier did not attend for fear she'd be followed by reporters and give away the location.
The two other terrorists killed in shootouts with police — Cherif Kouachi and supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly — have yet to be buried.
Meanwhile, Yemen detained two Frenchmen with suspected links to al-Qaeda for questioning, a top security official said Saturday.
"During the past two days, two French nationals accused of belonging to al-Qaeda have been arrested," said the chief of Yemen's national security service, General Mohammed al-Ahmadi.
For the first time in 30 years in Belgium, authorities are using troops to reinforce police in cities. Paratroopers fanned out to guard possible terror targets across the country Saturday, including some buildings within the Jewish quarter of the port city of Antwerp.
Authorities in France, Belgium and Germany arrested more than two dozen people in anti-terror raids Friday, reflecting a renewed urgency in Europe to combat the growing threat from Islamic extremism inside its borders.
The police raids in Belgium came after authorities Thursday night moved to pre-empt what they called a major impending attack, killing two suspects in a firefight and arresting a third.
The suspects intended to kill police in the streets or in their offices, Belgian judge Eric Van der Sypt said. A dozen searches led to the discovery of police uniforms, large amounts of cash and military-grade weapons including Kalashnikov assault rifles, he said.