The mayor of the eastern French city of Reims says one of the Islamist brothers in the terrorist attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was buried in Reims, despite concerns the grave could become a shrine for extremists.
Arnaud Robinet said on Saturday that gunman Said Kouachi was buried late Friday.
The mayor said he initially opposed Kouachi being buried in Reims, saying he did not want a gravesite that may attract "fanatics."
But he said he was forced to accept the burial by French law, which grants a right to be laid to rest in the last town of residence.
Officials say Kouachi's grave was unmarked and have not disclosed the name of the cemetery.
Kouachi lived in Reims before police killed him and his brother, Cherif Kouachi, in a raid near Paris on January 9, two days after the brothers killed 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
Seventeen people were killed in three days of terrorist-related violence in and around Paris.
As security forces closed in on the brothers, Said Kouachi said by phone that he received training and financing from al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. He mentioned his ties to Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric who by 2011 had become a senior figure in AQAP and its public face.
American, European and Yemeni sources say Said Kouachi traveled to Yemen in 2011 to train with AQAP, which praised the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo. An audio recording posted on YouTube and attributed to a leader of the group said the attack was prompted by insults to prophets.
Some information for this report is from AP, Reuters and AFP.
