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Video Claims to Show Gunman in Paris Terror Attack Pledging Allegiance to the Islamic State

A clip published Sunday purportedly features Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four hostages Friday at a kosher supermarket in Paris before police gunned him down.
Photo via Dailymotion

A video released Sunday purportedly shows one of the men involved in the Paris terror attacks pledging allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Dailymotion account — now defunct — that was previously associated with the militant group published the footage. It claims to feature Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four hostages Friday at a kosher supermarket in Paris before police gunned him down.

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The clip begins by showing pistols lined up on the floor and a man that appears to be Coulibaly doing push-ups.

"I'm a soldier of the Caliphate since the beginning," he says in French. "Our group was coordinated before the attack. France is a legitimate target because [of] what they are doing to us."

His wardrobe changes throughout the seven-minute clip, switching at one point from an all-leather outfit to a white robe. He is usually seated next to an assault rifle.

"You can't attack us and expect us to sit still," he says. "You keep bombarding our civilians and soldiers just because we obey the Sharia law."

Troops deployed in Paris to hunt for accomplices of gunmen in terror attacks. Read more here.

The video shows Coulibaly answering various questions that appear as text on screen.

"Are you connected to the brothers who attacked Charlie Hebdo?" one question asks.

He answers that they "did things," sometimes together and sometimes apart. He says he helped the Charlie Hebdo attackers — brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, who were killed Friday by police in a separate shootout — by giving them several thousand euro.

"Everything we are doing is legitimate, you cannot attack and not get anything back in return," he says. "You and your coalition bomb civilians and fighters everyday. Is it you that decides what happens on Earth eh? No. We cannot let you do that. We will fight back."

The video concludes with a provocation to other Muslims.

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"What do you do my brothers when the prophet keeps being insulted?" he says. "I have been to a lot of mosques in France, particularly around Paris. They are full of young, fit men. How come so few stand up to defend our people?"

Massive crowds gather at Paris unity rally to honor 'Charlie Hebdo' victims. Read more here.

VICE News could not independently verify the legitimacy of the video. The clip was posted to a Dailymotion channel that featured two other videos. One of those was a copy of an official Islamic State video called "From Inside Mosul" in which hostage John Cantlie gives a tour of the city.

The video of Coulibaly was released as hundreds of thousands of people — including political leaders of Israel, Palestine, and many European nations — gathered in Paris in a march of solidarity against the horrific attacks.

French police are still searching for Coulibaly's widow, who is suspected of helping him plan his attack. Turkish authorities told the Associated Press that she may be in Syria, saying she landed in Turkey several days ago and vanished near the border.

Follow Meredith Hoffman on Twitter: @merhoffman