French authorities say links have emerged between two brothers suspected of the Charlie Hebdo shootings and a man believed to have killed a policewoman in Paris a day later. <br /><br />Police have confirmed all three men were members of the same Islamist unit in northern Paris.<br /><br />Cherif Kouachi<br /><br />Shortly before dying in a shootout with armed forces, a man claiming to be suspect Cherif Kouachi, 32, told French news channel BFMTV that the operation carried out at the satirical magazine had been funded by al Qaeda.<br /><br />“I was sent. Me, Cherif Kouachi, by al Qaeda of Yemen”, the voice claimed. “I went over there and it was Anwar al Awlaki who financed me.”<br /><br />Al Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in September 2011. Prior to his death, he had been an influential preacher and international recruiter for al Qaeda.<br /><br />Amedy Coulibaly<br /><br />It has come to light that Amedy Coulibaly, also 32, a suspect in the killing of a policewoman in Paris, met with the then President Nicholas Sarkozy in 2009 as part of youth empl
