A lawyer for her family has now claimed they believe she was a 'victim'

Aitboulahcen died alongside him in a shootout with French special forces

Hasna Aitboulahcen's family claim she was not armed and was 'murdered'

Hasna Aitboulahcen's family are suing French police, claiming she was 'murdered' when she was killed in a shootout alongside Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud

French prosecutors today said a female jihadi who was killed in a police raid after the Paris attacks died of asphyxiation - however her family claim she was murdered.

Hasna Aitboulahcen, 26, died in a Saint-Denis apartment alongside Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the attacks.

Proescutors said she died of asphyxiation after another fanatic's suicide vest was detonated.

But her family's lawyer Fabien N'Doumou said she may have been shot by police.

Today the families of Boulahcen and Tarek Belgacem, who was in his 30s, began legal proceedings against the police claiming their loved ones were not carrying weapons when they were 'murdered' by officers.

Aitboulahcen died five days after the November 13 Islamic State terror attacks on Paris, in which 130 innocent people were killed.

She was in a hideout in the northern suburb of St Denis, when thousands of rounds of gunfire were poured inside by police commandos.

Aitboulahcen died alongside her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian-Moroccan ringleader of the attacks, and Chakib Akrouh, another suspected terrorist.

But Aitboulahcen's family believe she was innocent of any wrongdoing, and should have been given the chance to give herself up.

Fabien Ndoumou, lawyer for her family, said: 'I consider that Hasna Aitboulahcen is a victim.

'She was under pressure from her cousin who threatened her family and the families of her friends.'

Aitboulahcen's mother, sister and brother have filed a complaint against persons unknown for terrorism and murder on January 13 with Paris anti-terrorist judge Christophe Teissier.

The same kind of complaint has also been filed by the father of Belgacem, who was shot by police outside a Paris police station on January 7.

He allegedly approached police with a meat cleaver and was wearing a fake suicide bomb vest, while shouted 'Allahu Akbar'.

But his family said many of these details were fabricated by the police, and point to the fact that detectives refuse to release video of what really happened.

Police said they found a handwritten note on Belgacem's body in which he pledged allegiance to ISIS, but his father, Taoufik Belgacem, said this was planted.

Mr Belgacem said his son was 'normal, like all young people, a good person', and said complaint of manslaughter had been lodged against the policeman who shot him dead.

He added: 'They could have fired at him without killing him.' Police have, in turn, denied any wrongdoing and indicated they would contest the complaints.

Firefighters and police officers gather at the Saint-Denis flat where Aitboulahcen was killed alongside her cousin on November 18