CNN reported that Coulibaly had been on a US terror watchlist “for a while,” quoting a law enforcement official.
But Le Monde newspaper warned against the “temptation” of enacting a French version of the US Patriot Act, rushed in after the September 11 attacks of 2001 to give security agencies sweeping new surveillance powers over US citizens.
Meanwhile, Washington acknowledged it made a diplomatic misstep when it failed to send a high-ranking official to join world leaders attending Sunday’s mass march in Paris.
Only the ambassador to Paris was sent, a decision that provoked ire in France. “We should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
– Tragic hero –
New details emerged of the scene inside the Jewish supermarket where Coulibaly, who said he was working in concert with the two Charlie Hebdo killers, briefly took hostages on Friday before being killed in a police assault.
A woman who survived the siege told Europe 1 radio that she watched as a fellow hostage tried to snatch Coulibaly’s weapon.
“A young man took the assault rifle and wanted to shoot him,” but Coulibaly “was faster and he shot him in the throat. The poor young man just fell,” said the woman, who gave her name as Sophie.
She said Coulibaly dealt ruthlessly with another hostage.
“Someone wanted to leave — he shot him in the back,” she said.
The bodies of the four Jewish men who died in the attack arrived in Israel in the early hours of Tuesday and were to be buried in Jerusalem later in the day.
The funeral was to be attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, other top officials and members of Israel’s French-speaking community.
Netanyahu visited the scene of the hostage drama at the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris on Monday to pay tribute to those who died.
– Threats to Muslims, Jews –
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