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Police officials identified him as Ahmed Merabet. As details about his death became known, a campaign of solidarity quickly caught fire on social media Thursday, using the phrase "Je Suis Ahmed" - I Am Ahmed. That echoed the campaign of support for the satirical newspaper that spread widely after the attack, using the slogan "Je Suis Charlie." Merabet also drew attention at the United Nations. "He himself was a Muslim," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters. "This is yet another reminder of what we are facing together. It should never be seen as a war of religion, for religion, or on religion. It is an assault on our common humanity, designed to terrify and incite."
French news reports gave varying ages for Merabet, though the police union to which he belonged said he was in his 30s. He reportedly had eight years of police service, and was assigned to the neighborhood where Wednesday's attack occurred. Video footage taken by an onlooker that surfaced on the Internet after the attack appeared to show a wounded Merabet on the pavement, raising a hand as though appealing for mercy before he was fatally shot in the head by one of the three gunmen. During their attack on the newspaper office, the assailants had shouted "Allahu akbar!" - Arabic for "God is great!" - and police were investigating their possible ties to a Yemen-based terrorist group.
Merabet was "very discreet and conscientious," police union spokesman Rocco Contento told the newspaper Le Figaro. "We're all extremely shocked." Merabet's home town, the suburb of Livry-Gargan in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, announced Thursday that he and the other victims would be commemorated at a ceremony Sunday at the city hall. A police union official, who cited the sensitivity of the case in requesting anonymity, said Merabet's parents immigrated to France from predominantly Muslim North Africa. The officials said he didn't know whether Merabet was actively practicing the religion.
The other slain officer was Franck Brinsolaro, a married police veteran who served on the bodyguard detail for the slain editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stephane Charbonnier. The union official said Charbonnier would sometimes invite Brinsolaro for meals at the famed Closerie des Lilas restaurant in southern Paris. According to French media, Brinsolaro was married to the editor of a weekly newspaper in northern France, and the couple had a 1-year-old daughter. The death of Merabet - with his North African origins - recalled a series of gun attacks in southern France in 2012 that killed three French paratroopers of North African descent, as well as several Jewish civilians.
News from The Associated Press
MI5 director-general Andrew Parker used a long-planned speech at the Security Service headquarters on the banks of the River Thames to say the number of Britons going to Syria to join forces with militants there is steadily rising, posing a threat as they return. He said about 600 have gone so far, with "a significant proportion" having joined the Islamic State extremist group. Parker, in only his second public address, refused to use the name Islamic State, but said the group threatens Britain in three ways: murdering Britons in Syria, using Syria as a base for sending members back to Britain and elsewhere to launch attacks, and using propaganda to provoke Britons inside the United Kingdom to carry out violent attacks.
The director said the group's skill at using social media platforms means it has been able to spread its message to virtually every home in Britain, leading to a number of attacks, including many that have been thwarted by security forces and police. The threat from Syria led Britain last summer to raise its threat level to "severe" because of the "evidence-based" conclusion that an attack was highly likely, he said. "Outside Iraq and Syria, we believe that since October 2013 there have been more than 20 terrorist plots either directed or provoked by extremist groups in Syria," he said, citing lethal attacks in Canada, Australia, Belgium and other countries.
He warned that al-Qaida operatives are still trying to mount large-scale attacks that must be monitored and broken up even as MI5 tries to deal with the smaller scale and "lone wolf" attacks that are a recent trend. He said the number of "crude but potentially deadly" plots has increased. Parker said intelligence agencies have relied on email and phone interception to monitor plots in progress but that advanced encryption techniques are making this task more difficult. British officials said Thursday that border procedures at ports and train stations will be toughened immediately. Spain also announced measures to increase protection at sensitive installations.
News from The Associated Press
âI hope people respect our familyâs pain. Itâs a big loss to us. Weâre not the same anymore after this tragedy. Weâre trying to forget a little bit and move on with our life. But to hurt us again, itâs not fair,â said Tima Kurdi from her new home in Port Coquitlam, in Canada. The tasteless cartoon of the Syrian boy landed the French magazine in hot water, with a wave of criticism from social media users.
The infamous photo of the drowned Syrian boy, which made global headlines last September 2, was exploited for the second time by the magazine to cast its âracistâ and âxenophobicâ satire about the cases of sexual harassment on women, which took place on New Yearâs Eve in the streets of Cologne, Germany. Under the headline âMigrants,â the cartoon shows two lascivious pig-like men with their tongues hanging out chasing two frightened women.
At the top, the cartoon shows the image of the three-year-old Syrian boy laying face down dead in the sand. The magazine wrote âWhat would little Aylan have grown up to be?â with an answer at the bottom reading âAss groper in Germany.â Join the Conversation. What do you think?
Aylan Kurdi's Aunt Says Charlie Hebdo's Cartoon Is Disgusting
