Family of woman killed in Paris says she was 'unstable'

The brother of a woman who died in an alleged suicide bombing during a police raid targeting an alleged mastermind of last week's attacks in Paris has said that he had never seen his sister open a Quran.

Hasna Aitboulahcen,  a 26-year-old French citizen with Moroccan roots, was the cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 27-year-old alleged to have been involved in planning the attacks, who also died in Wednesday's raid on an apartment in the Saint Denis area of Paris.

Aitboulahcen was initially reported to have detonated a suicide device, but a police source told the AFP news agency on Friday that police now believed the bomber responsible for the explosion had been a man.

Family and friends of Aitboulahcen this week painted a picture of a woman who had enjoyed Western and French culture, only to suddenly reject its values and talk of going to Syria.

Those who knew her described her as a tomboy, who would wear jeans and a baseball cap, or a cowboy hat and boots. 

A troubled upbringing

But that suddenly changed earlier this year, according to her brother. "She started by wearing a jilbab and then she moved on to the niqab," he told the AFP news agency.

"She was unstable, she created her own bubble. She wasn't looking to study religion. I have never even seen her open a Quran."

"It's brainwashing," said her 58-year-old mother, with whom Aitboulahcen had lived in Aulnay-sous-Bois until a few weeks ago.

Her brother said she was born in August 1989 in a suburb northwest of Paris, but was mistreated as a child and was placed in foster care between the age of eight and 15.

In fact, this was a "happy period where she blossomed," he said. But it did not last.

"At first it went well, she was a child like any other," said her foster mother, but then added that things began to go wrong. Atiboulahcen never showed her any affection, she said.

"She always rolled herself up in a blanket with her head hidden. She said the devil was there at night."

She recalled Atiboulahcen sitting in front of the television "clapping" when the World Trade Center was hit by al-Qaeda on 11 September, 2001.

And at 15, Boulahcen left suddenly. "I knew she was lost."

A life of parties

For Sofiane, a neighbour in the Parisian satellite town of Aulnay-sous-Bois, Boulahcen had "the gift of the gab" but was also "a bit wacky".

"She might appear suddenly in front of you and start rapping."

In the eastern town of Creutzwald near the German border, where her 74-year-old father lives, a longtime friend Jerome described her as a bon vivant who often wore a cowboy hat and boots and "smoked occasionally and drank on nights out".

Local media reported that later in life she posted images on her Facebook page of herself in a niqab, holding weapons and praising other militants.

"I am going to Syria soon God willing, soon leaving for Turkey," she reportedly wrote on her page.

Reports say she might have fallen under the influence of Abaaoud, who prosecutors believe was preparing the team in the apartment to launch fresh attacks. Both families have roots in Morocco.