Jewish store attacker was almost killed by hostage

Amedy Coulibaly, who held up a Jewish shop in Paris on Friday, was almost killed by one of his hostages after one of his guns was snatched off him, it was revealed today.

But the AK47 jammed, meaning the 32-year-old used his second assault rifle to murder the unnamed man in cold blood.

He was one of four hostages executed in a massacre at the Kosher store in east Paris which ended with Coulibaly himself being gunned down by police commandoes.

Dramatic new details of the carnage were outlined by a survivor identified in France’s Le Point magazine as Mickael B.

In the most detailed account so far of the anti-Semitic attack, Mickael B said he was in the Jewish deli with his three-year-old son.

“I was heading for the check-out with the goods in my hand when I heard a bang - very loud,” he said.  “I thought it was a firecracker at first. But turning I saw a black man armed with two Kalashnikov rifles and I knew what was happening.”

“I grabbed my son by the collar and fled to the back of the store. There, with other customers, we ran down a spiral staircase into the basement. We all piled into one of two cold rooms – our door wouldn’t close. We were terrified.

“Five minutes later a store employee was sent down by the killer. She said he said we were to go back up otherwise there’d be carnage. I refused to go up.

“By now my son, understanding nothing, was panicking. Then minutes later the employee comes back down with the same message. This time I decided to follow her up the spiral staircase.”

At the top a man was dying in a pool of his own blood. The terrorist introduced himself to us. He was strangely calm. “I am Amedi Coulibaly, Malian and Muslim. I belong to the Islamic State,” he said, according to Mickael B.

“Then he told us to put our phones on the ground. He walked around the store, armed, totally justifying himself, speaking of Palestine, French prisons, his brothers in Syria and many other things.

“Suddenly one of the customers tried to grab one of his guns which he’d left on the counter. It wasn’t working. The terrorist had put it there because it had blocked after the first shots. He turned and shot at the customer who died on the spot.

“He then demanded that I call the media, which I did. From then on the phone in the store never stopped ringing. It was mainly journalists. I told them now was not the time. My son started to cry he wanted to go home. He said the terrorist was a bad man.

“I managed to get my phone out discreetly and got in touch with the police outside while the terrorist was roaming the aisles.

“A policeman told me that we should be ready to throw ourselves flat on the ground when the assault came, which would be soon.

“It was obvious that the terrorist was preparing to die. He said it was his reward. He had a weapon in each hand and boxes of cartridges nearby. He suddenly began to pray.

“My mobile was still on. The police had heard it all. Minutes later the shop grille was lifted. We knew it was the start of the assault.

“We flung ourselves to the ground. The noise was deafening. He was dead. It was over.”