^^A cross-bow (in case some is really wondering..)
The Links Among the Paris Terror Suspects and Their Connections to Jihad
Chérif Kouachi Born 1982. Suspect in attack on Charlie Hebdo.
Saïd Kouachi Born 1980. Suspect in attack on Charlie Hebdo.
Amedy Coulibaly Born 1982. Suspect in attack on kosher market.
Farid Benyettou A former janitor and self-taught preacher who called for jihad in Iraq, and a leader of the 19th Arrondissement network.
2004
Met Mr. Benyettou at a mosque near his home in Paris's 19th Arrondissement, a largely Arab, working-class district.
19th Arrondissement network
A network that recruited young French Muslims to fight in Iraq with Al Qaeda. Mr. Benyettou and Boubaker Hakim were leaders of the network.
2005
Became involved in the 19th Arrondissement network and was arrested while preparing to leave for Syria en route to Iraq.
Was involved with the 19th Arrondissement network at some point, according to the French authorities.
Believed to be part of the 19th Arrondissement network, the police said.
Boubaker Hakim
A Tunisian-French jihadist who built a network of fighters across Northern Africa and in European immigrant communities since 2011. He also helped found the 19th Arrondissement network.
The French authorities believe Mr. Hakim was a foreign associate of the Kouachi brothers.
The French authorities believed Mr. Hakim was a foreign associate of the Kouachi brothers.
Djamel Beghal
A French-Algerian champion of jihad who was jailed in 2001 for planning an attack on the American Embassy in Paris.
Got to know Mr. Beghal while being held in a detention center after his arrest.
Followed Mr. Beghal, according to police.
Abu Ghraib
The site of the notorious prisoner abuse scandal during the American occupation of Iraq.
2008
During the trial on his involvement in the 19th Arrondissement network, it was said that his radicalization was rooted in the American invasion of Iraq and the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib.
Smaïn Aït Ali Belkacem
An Algerian Islamist who was sentenced to life in prison in connection with a 1995 wave of bombings in the Paris Métro and on regional trains.
2010
Popped up again on intelligence radar in connection with a plot to free Mr. Belkacem from prison.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric and a leader of the group, repeatedly called for killing cartoonists who insulted the Prophet Muhammad, and inspired young Muslim men to travel to Yemen.
2015
During the Charlie Hebdo attack, the brothers identified themselves as being part of Al Qaeda in Yemen, another name for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Chérif later told a French broadcaster that he had gone to Yemen.
2009
Began travels to Yemen, where he received training from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Kouachi roomed briefly in the Yemeni capital, Sana, with
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 with explosives hidden in his underwear. Mr. Abdulmutallab, who is now serving a life sentence in federal prison, told the F.B.I. that his plot was approved and partly directed by Mr. Awlaki.
Mr. Awlaki was born in New Mexico in 1971 while his Yemeni father was a graduate student, went with his family to Yemen at the age of 7 and returned to the United States at 19 to study engineering at Colorado State University. He discovered a knack for preaching and spent eight years as a highly successful imam at mosques in Denver, San Diego and Washington, where he preached at the Capitol and was a luncheon speaker at the Pentagon.
He came under F.B.I. scrutiny briefly in 1999 for contacts with known militants, and again in 2002 when agents discovered that three of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers had worshiped in his mosques.
the killers were suspected to be well trained Islamic extremists. But their motive, and backgrounds, are still being investigated.
French authorities 
