One of the brother was in security radar for a long time, another trained al-Qaeda terrorists in Yemen
Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, the suspects in the Charlie Hebdo shooting, were gunned down on Friday. Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical magazine that is reputed to take pot-shots on current affairs, religion, personalities etc. The shooting left 12 people dead, 10 of them were journalists working in the same weekly and the other two were police officers.
- Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi were orphaned by their Algerian immigrant parents at a young age. The brothers were born in Paris, raised in Rennes, a city in France, and then moved back to Paris. A German journalist posted a picture of the brothers on Twitter:
- Cherif Kouachi, the younger brother of the two, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008, for helping to funnel prospective jihadi fighters from France to Iraq. The New York Times reported in 2005 that Cherif was inspired to become a jihadist after he saw images of abuse suffered by the Abu Ghraib prisoners. Before this incident, he wasn't a devout Muslim; he was involved in smoking, drugs and alcohol and had many girlfriends.
In 2010, he was arrested again for allegedly being involved in the escape of Islamist Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, a member of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) which was responsible for bombings and plane hijacking in France in the 1990s. But he was ultimately released later due to lack of evidence to prove his involvement.
- The Kouachi brothers feature in the US no-flying list. Reports say that Said Kouachi had travelled to Yemen to train the newly recruited members of al Qaeda. The US no-fly list includes known or suspected terrorists and extremists. Both brothers were mentioned on the list for their involvement in terrorist activities.
- Cherif worked as a pizza delivery boy before he got involved in terrorist activities; Said was reportedly jobless. Cherif's former attorney has been quoted in media saying, "Cherif was a loser pizza delivery boy... A clueless kid who did not know what to do with his life."
- Cherif has also featured in a French documentary directed by Magalie Ferre in 2005 for a television channel. She says, "Cherif had a change of mind only after meeting Farid Benyettou who was a Muslim jihadi preacher. In six months of meeting Benyettou, Cherif evolved and tried to go to Iraq." The documentary shows that Cherif wanted to be a rapper.
The brothers were holed up in a warehouse in Northern France where they even held hostages. On Friday, after hours of seige, French police successfully killed the two brothers.
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