Friday, January 09, 2015
Paris (CNN)Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two brothers wanted in the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdomagazine, have been killed by security forces in a town where they'd been surrounded, a local mayor said.
About the same time late Friday afternoon, explosions could be heard around where people were being held hostage in a kosher grocery store in eastern Paris.
GROCERY STORE HOSTAGE SITUATION
• Some police were injured in the operation at the eastern Paris kosher grocery store, police union spokesman Pascal Disand said. At least 10 hostages escaped, and the hostage-taker -- Amedy Coulibaly, 32, one of two people wanted in Thursday's deadly shooting of a policewoman south of Paris -- was killed, Disand said.
• The hostages being held at the market near Porte de Vincennes are alive, and "the terrorist is dead," tweeted Gerard Araud, the French ambassador to the United States.
• Police at the scene of the grocery store siege shouted "get down!" and "we've got him," video from CNN affiliate BFMTV show.
• Police could be seen leaving the eastern Paris grocery store, where hostages were being held, with people late Friday afternoon.
• Large explosions could be heart around 5:10 p.m. (11:10 a.m ET) Friday near the store.
• The hostage-taker there demanded freedom for the Kouachi brothers -- the suspects in the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo -- witnesses said, according to Pascal Disand of the Alliance Police Union.
• Yves Albarello, who is in France's parliament, said on French channel iTele that the two suspects told police by phone that they wanted to die as martyrs.
• A salesman, who identified himself only as Didier, told France Info radio that he shook one of the gunman's hands around 8:30 a.m. Friday as they arrived at a Dammartin-en-Goele printing business -- the same place where the Kouachi brothers are thought to be. Didier told the public radio station that he first thought the man, who was dressed in black and heavily armed, was a police officer.
As he left, the armed man said, "Go, we don't kill civilians." Didier said, "It wasn't normal. I did not know what was going on."
• Dammartin-en-Goele residents were told to stay inside, and schools were put on lockdown, the mayor's media office told CNN on Friday. Shops in the town have been told to close.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
• Said Kouachi, one of the two brothers suspected of killing 12 people in and around the provocative satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, spent several months in Yemen in 2011, receiving weapons training and working with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based there, U.S. officials said Friday.
• French President Francois Hollande held a crisis meeting Friday afternoon with senior Cabinet members at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Those in attendance included Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, according to the French presidency.
• These aren't the only incidents occupying French authorities. So, too, is the fatal shooting of the policewoman Thursday in Montrouge, a southern suburb of Paris. On Friday, French police released photos of a man and a woman -- Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene, 26 -- who they believe carried out this attack and are believed to be armed and dangerous.
• Dozens of schools were placed under lockdown because of the hostage situation in eastern Paris, police said.
The grocery store hostage situation was near Porte de Vincennes.
The grocery store hostage situation was near Porte de Vincennes.
EXPAND IMAGE• Authorities haven't said how many are being held, or if anyone has been killed.
• Police anti-terror units raced to the scene of the hostage situation early Friday afternoon, while ambulances blared as they moved away from it. Roads around the area have been blocked off.
STANDOFF IN DAMMARTIN-EN-GOELE
• The male hostage who was being held by the Kouachi brothers inside a printing business in Dammartin-en-Goele is safe, Othis Mayor Bernard Corneille said.
• The brothers were killed in an operation by security forces, Corneille said. French media also reported their deaths, citing police sources.
• Four helicopters, including a medical helicopter, landed at a site near where the operation took place.
• Men were on the roof of the building where the Kouachi brothers -- the suspects in the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo -- are believed to be, images from CNN affiliate BFMTV showed. Smoke could be seen rising from the building.
• A helicopter landed next to the building.
• Shots were heard shortly before 5 p.m. around the industrial area where the brothers were thought to be surrounded by law enforcement. At least large explosions were also heard.
Father: 'It's like a war'
Henri Dunant elementary school should be a place to learn, to play, to be a kid.
Not to hide in fear of killers on the loose. But that's what students did for hours Friday, there and at many other schools around Dammartin-en-Goele.
By late Friday afternoon, some of them were finally allowed to leave, though they weren't alone. Police officers accompanied the children -- holding their hands as they guided and, in some cases, lifted them onto an awaiting bus that would take them to safety.
The Interior Ministry reported the schoolchildren were being evacuated to sports facilities in nearby Mitry-Mory.
One father, who lives across the street from a school and asked to be identified only as Teddy, described the situation as "very worrying."
"It's like a war," he said. "I don't know how I will explain this to my 5-year-old son."
Previous sightings?
Two days ago, it was all about Charlie Hebdo, the magazine whose offices came under ruthless attack, with staff members called out and summarily executed.