Gunman tried to justify market raid to hostages, recording apparently shows

French radio station RTL says that it called the market after authorities say Coulibaly took customers and workers hostage there. Coulibaly apparently took the call and then tried to hang up, the station says, but the line remained open.

In a recording of what followed, a man the station identifies as Coulibaly holds a dialogue with others — apparently hostages — in which he says he attacked because the French military has attacked Muslims in the Middle East and Mali, including ISIS militants.

“I was born in France. If they didn’t attack other countries, I wouldn’t be here,” a voice, apparently Coulibaly’s, says in RTL’s recording.

Officials say a gunman killed four hostages in that grocery store raid, and that the suspect, Coulibaly, was killed in a police operation to free the remaining hostages. Video from French news media shows police raiding the store, and a man — apparently Coulibaly — being shot by police as he rushed out of the building toward the raiding officers.

Israeli government sources told CNN that French President François Hollande had told Netanyahu that four hostages were killed in the market attack and 15 were rescued. The four hostages were killed by the gunman before police stormed the market, sources said.

Police are searching for Coulibaly’s romantic partner, Hayat Boumeddiene, 26. Disant initially said she was a suspect in the market raid and may have escaped, and police also named her as a suspect in Thursday’s shooting of the police officer in Montrouge.

But it wasn’t clear if she was in France. She entered Turkey on January 2, a Turkish prime ministry source told CNN Saturday. If that is accurate, it could mean Boumeddiene was not in France at the time of this week’s attacks.

CNN’s Ray Sanchez and Margot Haddad contributed to this report.

CNN