A woman who tipped off French place about the hiding place of the mastermind of the Paris attacks has spoken out for the first time and says it is ‘important that the world knows I am a Muslim myself.’

The woman, who is now living under police protection, said she accompanied Hasna Aitboulahcen, the cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, to the latter’s hiding place in a wooded area near Aubervilliers.

When she realised Abaaoud was planning a second terror attack, she tried to get Aitboulahcen drunk so she couldn’t help him to carry it out. She then told police of his plans.

The woman told The Washington Post that she was a surrogate mother to Aitboulahcen and felt guilty over her death.

‘It’s important to me that people know what Abaaoud and the others did is not what Islam is teaching.’

Aitboulahcen stayed with the woman for three years but went through periods of drug and alcohol abuse and would disappear for weeks at a time.

Her behaviour apparently changed when she began to message someone in Syria – believed to be Abaaoud – and soon she had started wearing a niqab and talking about a potential marriage.

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