Paris attacks: Four men charged with links to terrorist attacks by Amedy Coulibaly

The four men have been charged with offences including helping to plan terror attacks and possession of weapons

A police officer in front of the Elysee Palace (AFP/Getty Images)

Four men have been charged with links to the terrorist attacks in Paris that occurred earlier this month, the prosecutor’s office has said.

Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said that the men were handed preliminary charges overnight of association with terrorism. The men are 22, 25, 26 and 28 years old and are suspected of providing logistical support to Amedy Coulibaly, one of the terrorists killed by police. They are being held in custody until further investigation.

Three of the four had criminal records while at least one met Coulibaly in prison, M. Molins said.

He said that authorities in France are working with other countries to search for other possible suspects, and added that investigators are trying to uncover who was responsible for the posthumous video of Coulibaly, which was edited and released days after he and the Charlie Hebdo gunmen Said and Cherif Kouachi were killed by police.

In the video, Coulibaly pledges allegiance to the Islamic State group and details how the attacks were coordinated by the three men.

Police probing the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters and a kosher grocery in eastern Paris arrested 12 people on the night of 15 January and in the early hours of the following day.

Under French law, they will be held in custody while an investigating magistrate builds a case. The other suspects have all been released.

Nine men and three women were questioned on suspicion of providing logistical support to the killers, the Interior Ministry announced at the time of the attacks.

France is currently still on the highest alert and has deployed over 120,000 police and soldiers across the country to protect vulnerable buildings such as schools and train stations.

Police said that the DNA of one of those arrested was found on a weapon used by Amedy Coulibaly: who killed a police officer in a Paris suburb on 8 January and then murdered four hostages at a kosher grocery store in the Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, the next day.

DNA of another man was found in the car Coulibaly drove to the grocery, Europe1 radio reported.

The three gunmen were killed in almost simultaneous assaults by the police on 9 January.

Police are still investigating the degree of coordination between the two attacks.

Additional reporting by AP