Hasna Ait Boulahacen screamed, ‘help me, help me!’ before detonating her suicide vest packed full of explosives as French anti-terror police moved in on the terrorists’ hiding place.
She can be seen in the latest pictures posing with two fingers up to the camera, she is Europe’s first female suicide bomber whose head and spine flew through a window and landed on the street.
Witnesses said went to a nearby KFC restaurant to buy some food and looked ‘relaxed’ just hours before the blast.
Neighbours at the building where the family of Ait Boulahacen live in a run-down suburb of Paris said the female suicide bomber had been there three weeks ago.
They said she had a bubbly personality, adding that she was ‘outgoing, a bit clueless’. They were shocked to see her face appear on the news.
One neighbour, Hussane, described her as a ‘Tom boy’ and said she always dressed in jeans, trainers and a black cap until around eight months ago when she started wearing a niqab.
He said: ‘She wasn’t scared of anyone. She was like a little soldier. She was very lively, very dynamic.
He said: ‘She didn’t have a niqab [headscarf] before. She was always in jeans and trainers. She was a very well-spoken girl. She was very respectful.’
The retired 62-year-old said that Hasna was always very helpful and had once carried his heavy shopping for him.
He said Hasna’s mother had been comforted by the caretaker in the building and had spent last night crying.
He added: ‘I can’t believe she’s part of this sect. When I heard it I felt sick. She was like all young girls – it was who she was hanging out with.
‘We have been tainted by these people that know nothing about Islam.’
Another said: ‘She did not look like a suicide bomber and she drank alcohol.’
