Paris terror attacks: Ex-wife of suicide bomber calls him a lazy pothead

Ibrahim Abdeslam's passport. He was one of the terrorists who slaughtered 129 people in Paris.

• Ex-wife reveals life with Paris terrorist
• 'His favourite activities were smoking weed and sleeping'
• Abdeslam accidentally detonated the bomb early
•

The ex-wife of a Paris bomber who killed himself in the Paris terrorist attacks has called him jobless and lazy.

Ibrahim Abdeslam, 31, a trained electrician, blew himself up outside the Comptoir Voltaire cafe in Paris' 11th district.

His wife of two years, Niama, said the man did just one day of work during their time together. The pair split in 2008.

Speaking from her home in Moleenbeek, Brussels, Naima, 36, told the Daily Mail: "His favourite activities were smoking weed and sleeping. He often slept during the day. The number of joints that he smoked was alarming.

"Despite his diploma as an electrician, he found no job," she said.

"In those two years we were married, he worked a single day. It made him lazy."

Ibrahim was one of at least eight jihadis behind the attacks in Paris, which left 129 dead and at least 352 injured.

Security sources suggest he had accidentally detonated the bomb early, after fumbling with the device, the Daily Mail reported.

His younger brother, Salah Abdeslam, 26, is wanted after police failed to arrest him when he crossed the border into Belgium after the attacks.

Ibrahim's extremism came as a surprise to Naima.

She told the Daily Mail that her former husband never went to mosque or prayed - although he did keep Ramadan because his family forced him to.

Because Ibrahim - who, according to his family, had spent a "long time" in Syria in recent years - didn't have a job, he stayed at home all day watching DVDs and listening to the Arabic hip-hop music they both loved, she said.

On the run: Ibrahim's brother Salah.

Money was tight for the couple. "We lived on unemployment benefit which was only €1000 (NZ$1645) a month between us, so we worried a lot about money.

"We didn't have children because we didn't have the money to raise them."

He did not follow current affairs and had no gripe against the West, Naima said.

Ibrahim had served two prison sentences for theft, one for three months and one of six months and as a minor he set his family home on fire.

The Daily Mail reported that Naima said Ibrahim was "chilled out," "of good character" and was never violent with her or others.

She said the couple met in a bar in downtown Brussels in 2004 when Ibrahim sat on the barstool next to her and began chatting her up.

"From that day on we were always together. He would take me out to a restaurant or to the cinema or we listened to Arabic music. I was happy and in love," Naima said.

After two years the couple decided to get married and had a civil non-religious wedding in the town hall for 20 people, followed by a party in a restaurant in the evening.

Ibrahim's parents did not attend the wedding, nor did his brother Salah, the 26-year-old allegedly responsible for "logistics" for the attack.

Naima told the Daily Mail that Ibrahim's father, Abdaramane, a driver on the metro, was not very religious and just went to the mosque on a Friday. His mother Yamina was the most progressive, according to Naima. She didn't cook that much and would go out in the evening for pizza with her friends.

Image 1 of 16: A bird flies in front of the Eiffel Tower ,which remained closed on the first of three days of national mourning. Photo / Daniel Ochoa de Olza

She said the reasons for their 2008 split were private, but they parted on friendly terms. Ibrahim intended to find a new wife, she said.

Since then she had had no contact with Ibrahim or the family and only found out on Monday about his involvement.

"I have no explanation she says. I am shocked."

But while Naima is shocked, Ibrahim's family admit he had been "radicalised", the Daily Mail reported, while Belgian authorities have said he was on a terror watch list.

According to Mo magazine, the two brothers, and fellow suicide bomber Bilal Hadfi - who blew himself up outside the Stade de France - were among 800 names of suspected extremists held by the OCAD Belgian intelligence service.