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Cherif Kouachi
Fritz-Joly Joachin, a French national said to be connected to the Kouachi brothers, has been extradited from Bulgaria to France.
Fritz-Joly Joachin was detained while trying to cross into Turkey, a French judicial official said.
He has admitted to being an associate of the attackers of Charlie Hebdo magazine but denies being aware of their plans.
Seventeen people were killed in a series of attacks in Paris in January.
Fritz-Joly Joachin, 29, is accused of participating in a terrorist group and of having links to a network of people sending fighters to Syria.
He arrived in France on January 29 and was due to be questioned later in the day, unnamed judicial sources told AFP.
French police say Fritz-Joly Joachin is associated with Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi.
The two brothers stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7 and opened fire using automatic weapons, killing 12 people.
Two days later, a third gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, killed four Jewish people at HyperCacher supermarket. A policewoman was also shot dead.
The Islamist gunmen had links to groups based in the Middle East, and said they were “avenging” cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Fritz-Joly Joachin was thought to have been on his way to Syria with his three-year-old son when he was detained, according Bulgaria’s Sophia news agency.
French authorities have arrested four other people for alleged links to the Kouachi brothers.
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Said Kouachi, one of the two brothers who launched a deadly attack against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last week, has been buried in an unmarked grave.
Said Kouachi, 34, was buried secretly late on Friday in the eastern city of Reims, where he had lived before the attack.
The mayor of Reims said he had opposed the burial, fearing a grave could become a shrine, but had been forced to accept it by law.
Attacks in Paris killed 17 people last week, 12 of them at Charlie Hebdo.
On January 9, two days after attacking the magazine, Said Kouachi and his younger brother Cherif were killed by police at an industrial estate north of Paris.
Cherif Kouachi, 32, is expected to be buried in his hometown of Gennevilliers, outside Paris.
There has been no announcement on plans for burying Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people at Jewish supermarket HyperCacher in Paris on January 9 and is suspected of killing a policewoman in the French capital a day earlier.
Earlier in the week, Reims mayor Arnaud Robinet said he would “categorically refuse” a family request for Said Kouachi to be buried in the city.
Arnaud Robinet said he did not want “a tomb that could become a shrine for people to gather around or a pilgrimage site for fanatics”.
However, on January 17 he said he had been forced by the government to accept the burial.
“He was buried last night, in the most discreet, anonymous way possible,” Arnaud Robinet told French TV.
The city said in a statement: “Given the risk of disturbance of the peace and in order to quickly turn the page of this tragic episode, it was decided to do the burial quickly.”
A lawyer for Said Kouachi’s widow said she had not attended the burial for fear that journalists would follow her and the location of the grave would be discovered.
10,000 French troops have been mobilized to boost security after last week’s deadly attacks in Paris.
Thousands of police officers have been also sent to protect Jewish schools.
Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said troops would be in place from January 13 in sensitive areas.
It is the first time troops have been deployed within France on such a scale.
Seventeen people were killed in Paris last week in attacks at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, on a police officer, and at kosher supermarket HyperCacher.
On January 11, an estimated 3.7 million people took to the streets to show solidarity with the victims, including 1.5 million people in Paris.
About 40 world leaders joined the start of the Paris march, linking arms in an act of solidarity.
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President Francois Hollande ordered the deployment of troops during a crisis meeting with top officials early on January 12.
Jean-Yves Le Drian said the deployment, the first of its kind, was needed because “threats remain present”.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazaneuve announced that nearly 5,000 members of the security forces would be sent to protect France’s 717 Jewish schools, and that troops would be sent as reinforcements over the next two days.
PM Manuel Valls said synagogues would also be protected, as would mosques, following some retaliatory attacks over the Charlie Hebdo killings.
Last week, Manuel Valls admitted there had been “clear failings” after it emerged that the three gunman involved in the attacks – Said and Cherif Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly – had a history of extremism.
The Kouachi brothers were on UK and US terror watch lists and Amedy Coulibaly had previously been convicted for plotting to free a known militant from prison. Amedy Coulibaly met Cherif Kouachi while in jail.
Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers were shot dead on January 9 after police ended two separate sieges.
Amedy Coulibaly killed four people at HyperCacher supermarket in eastern Paris on January 9 before police stormed the building. He is also believed to have shot dead a policewoman the day before.
Ahead of Sunday’s rally in Paris, a video emerged appearing to show Amedy Coulibaly pledging allegiance to the Islamic State militant group.
In the video, he said he was working with the Kouachi brothers: “We have split our team into two… to increase the impact of our actions.”
The Kouachi brothers claimed they were acting on behalf of Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda (AQAP). But experts say it is highly unlikely that Islamic State and al-Qaeda, rivals in the Middle East, would plan an attack together.
Manuel Valls said on January 12 that authorities thought that the attackers had at least one accomplice, for whom police are still hunting.
One suspect is Hayat Boumeddiene, Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend, though she left France before the attacks. The Turkish foreign minister said Hayat Boumeddiene had arrived in Turkey on January 2 from Madrid, before continuing to Syria six days later.
Surveillance footage released on January 12 showed Hayat Boumeddiene entering Turkey at an Istanbul airport, accompanied by a man.
According to Turkish officials, the man was Mehdi Sabri Belhouchine, a man of “North African origin”, and that he was not on a watch list. Officials believe he crossed into Syria with Hayat Boumeddiene.
Manuel Valls also said that a jogger shot in a separate attack in Paris on January 7, which prosecutors have linked to Amedy Coulibaly, was “between life and death”.
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Ahead of a huge rally after 17 people died during three days of deadly attacks in Paris, a video emerged appearing to show HyperCacher supermarket attacker, Amedy Coulibaly, pledging allegiance to the so-called Islamic State.
In the video, Amedy Coulibaly said he was working with the Charlie Hebdo attackers Cherif and Said Kouachi: “We have split our team into two… to increase the impact of our actions.”
Amedy Coulibaly killed four hostages seized at the HyperCacher supermarket on January 9 before being shot dead by police. The four victims will be buried in Israel on January 13.
In the 7-minute long clip, Amedy Coulibaly is seen surrounded by weapons and attempts to justify his attack on the Jewish store, in which four hostages died.
Amedy Coulibaly was himself killed when police stormed the supermarket on Friday afternoon, but his message appears to have been filmed sometime over the three days in which terror gripped France last week.
He is also believed to have shot dead a female police officer in Montrouge on January 8, and has now been linked by prosecutors to the shooting and wounding of a 32-year-old jogger in a park in Fontenay-les-Roses, in south-west Paris, on January 7.
Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, is still wanted by police – although she is thought to have fled France last week. Officials believe Hayat Boumeddiene may have entered Turkey en route to Syria.
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French authorities have deployed 500 extra troops around Paris after three days of terror in the capital killed 17 people.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said all necessary measures were being taken to protect the country.
Police in France are hunting for any accomplices of three gunmen killed by police on January 9 after two sieges.
More than 210,000 people have taken part in silent marches across France to remember the victims.
After a security cabinet meeting on January 10, Bernard Cazeneuve said France would remain on its highest state of alert “for the next few weeks”.
He promised tight security for a massive unity march in Paris on January 11.
Those set to attend Sunday’s unity rally include UK PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“Sunday, the French people will cry out their love of liberty,” said PM Manuel Valls.
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France would be “firm and relentless in the face of the enemies of liberty”, he added, urging all people to “assume their responsibilities”.
Silent marches have held in cities including Paris, Orleans, Nice, Pau, Toulouse and Nantes to remember the victims of this week’s violence.
Some protesters held banners that read “I am against racism”, “unite”, or “I am Charlie”, in reference to Charlie Hebo, the satirical magazine whose offices were attacked on January 7.
The family of Ahmed Merabet, one of the police officers killed during the Charlie Hebdo attack, gave an emotional news conference on January 10.
Ahmed Merabet was “Muslim, and very proud of being a police officer and defending the values of the Republic”, his brother Malek Merabet said.
He added that the family was “devastated by this act of barbarity, and shared the pain of the families of all the victims”.
“I want to say to all the racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic people, that one must not amalgamate extremists and Muslims,” Ahmed Merabet’s brother added.
The family said they were “proud” of the gatherings that had taken place to commemorate the victims, saying they proved that France could be united.
The violence began when two brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, killed 12 people and injured 11 in an attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine on January 7.
On Janaury 9, Cherif and Said Kouachi were killed by police in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles north of Paris, as they emerged from a besieged warehouse building firing their automatic weapons.
One hostage had earlier been released and a second employee, who was hiding in the building’s cafeteria, was freed by police.
Police shortly afterwards launched an assault on a supermarket in eastern Paris where gunman Amedy Coulibaly had been holding several hostages.
Police killed Amedy Coulibaly and rescued 15 hostages. They found the bodies of four hostages who are believed to have been killed before the assault.
The four victims have been identified as Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen, and Francois-Michel Saada. Their names were released by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions.
Police are searching for Hayat Boumeddiene, Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend. She was said to be with Amedy Coulibaly when a policewoman was killed in Paris on Thursday, and is described as “armed and dangerous”.
Security officials have said they were aware of Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers. Said Kouachi was known to have travelled to Yemen in 2011.
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French police are hunting for any accomplices of the gunmen who killed 17 people in two days of terror attacks.
One key figure is Hayat Boumeddiene, Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend. He was killed when police stormed HyperCacher supermarket in Paris on January 9.
Hayat Boumeddiene was said to be with Amedy Coulibaly when a female police officer was killed and is described as “armed and dangerous”.
Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two gunmen who carried out Wednesday’s deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine, were killed by police on January 9.
President Francois Hollande praised the police but also warned of further threats.
He thanked the security services for their “bravery and efficiency”, saying the week’s violence was “a tragedy for the nation”.
Francois Molins, the chief prosecutor in France, said authorities were urgently focusing on Hayat Boumeddiene.
French newspaper Le Monde published a series of photos said to show Amedy Coulibaly with Hayat Boumeddiene in 2010. In one, the 26-year-old woman is pictured pointing a crossbow at the camera while wearing a full-face veil, which is banned in France.
Francois Molins said the investigation would “focus on determining who their accomplices were, how these criminal actions were financed, and all the instruction and help they may have benefited from whether in France, from overseas”.
He said 16 people had been detained for questioning, including the wife of one of the Kouachi brothers and other members of their family.
French government ministers are meeting on Saturday morning to plan their next steps.
A number of world leaders have called Francois Hollande to express support.
The first siege on January 9 – in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles north of Paris – involved the Kouachi brothers who had attacked the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine on January 7.
Cherif and Said Kouachi were shot dead as they came out of a warehouse building firing at police. Two officers were injured.
One hostage had earlier been released and a second employee, who was hiding in the building’s cafeteria, was freed by police after the shooting ended.
Police shortly afterwards launched an assault on HyperCacher supermarket in Paris, killing Amedy Coulibaly and rescuing 15 hostages. They found the bodies of four hostages believed to have been killed before the assault.
Officials have said they were aware of Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers. Said Kouachi was known to have travelled to Yemen in 2011.
Said and Cherif Kouachi are understood to have been on UK and US watch-lists.
While holed up in the warehouse north of Paris, Cherif Kouachi phoned a French TV news network and told them he was acting on behalf of the Yemen branch of al-Qaeda (AQAP).
The extremist group released an audio message late on January 9 praising the attacks but stopped short of claiming responsibility.
AQAP senior leader Sheikh Harith al-Nadhari said “some in France have misbehaved with the prophets of God,” adding that “God’s faithful soldiers” had taught them “the limits of freedom of speech”.
Earlier on Friday, a man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly told French TV station BFMTV that he was a member of the Islamic State militant group, and that he had “co-ordinated” his attack with the Kouachi brothers.
Francois Molins confirmed that Amedy Coulibaly knew one of the brothers and their respective partners had spoken on the phone more than 500 times.
During Friday’s siege, Amedy Coulibaly had threatened to kill his captives if police attempted to capture the brothers, he added.
PM Manuel Valls admitted there had been a “clear failing” in French intelligence.
“If 17 people die, this means mistakes have been made,” he said, including those killed in attacks on January 7 and 8 in the toll.
The violence started on January 7 when the Kouachi brothers killed 12 people and injured 11 in an attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
The unprecedented attack shocked France and there has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity worldwide.
The French ministers’ meeting on Saturday will make preparations for a huge unity rally due to take place in the heart of Paris on January 11.
Among those attending will be UK PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy.
President Barack Obama said he had directed his intelligence agencies to help France deal with any further threats.
Meanwhile, the US state department has updated its travel guidance, warning Americans travelling abroad to maintain a high level of vigilance.
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Four hostages have been killed at HyperCacher as anti-terror forces stormed the Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris.
Several hostages were being held by a gunman with links to Charlie Hebdo attack suspects.
It is not clear whether the four hostages were killed before or after the police assault began.
Another four hostages were seriously injured, but 15 were freed alive.
After the police operation started, several hostages could be seen leaving the HyperCacher supermarket.
Two police officers were injured in the rescue operation, AP reported.
In a separate incident, a hostage at the warehouse in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles north of Paris was also freed, while a police officer at the scene was injured, AFP news agency said.
Charlie Hebdo attack suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi have been killed in the incident.
French President Francois Hollande has described the events as “a tragedy for the nation”.
In a national address, Francois Hollande thanked the security forces for their “courage, bravery [and] efficiency”, but added that France still faced threats.
“We have to be vigilant. I also ask you to be united – it’s our best weapon,” he said.
“We must be implacable towards racism,” he added, saying that the supermarket attack was an “appalling anti-Semitic act”.
“Those who committed these acts, these fanatics, have nothing to do with the Muslim faith.”
The police assaults came after three tense days in France.
Twelve people were shot dead and 11 were injured in Wednesday’s attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine.
The unprecedented attack shocked France and there has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity worldwide.
The two suspects of the Charlie Hebdo shootings, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, then went on the run for two days, before being surrounded at Dammartin as night fell on Friday.
French police said they came out firing.
The hostage taker in eastern Paris targeted Jewish supermarket HyperCacher, near Porte de Vincennes. He has been named as Amedy Coulibaly, 32. It is not clear whether he had an accomplice.
He knew at least one of the suspected Charlie Hebdo attackers, a source told AFP news agency.
Amedy Coulibaly had threatened to kill his captives if police attempted to capture the brothers, reports citing police said.
Earlier on Friday, a man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly told French TV station BFMTV that he was a member of the Islamic State militant group, and that he had “co-ordinated” his attack with the Kouachi brothers.
Amedy Coulibaly was also suspected of being behind the shooting of a policewoman in the southern suburb of Montrouge on January 8.
On January 9, French police issued an appeal for witnesses to that shooting. They said they were looking for Amedy Coulibaly, as well as a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26.
Hayat Boumeddiene’s whereabouts are not clear.
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Explosions and gunfire have been heard at Jewish supermarket HyperCacher in eastern Paris, at Porte de Vincennes, where a gunman had held several hostages.
Reports suggest Amedy Coulibaly was linked to Charlie Hebdo attack suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi.
After the operation started, several hostages could be seen leaving the supermarket.
The hostage at the printworks warehouse has also been freed, while a police officer at the scene was injured, AFP news agency said. Charlie Hebdo attack suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi are reportedly dead.
Twelve people were shot dead and 11 were injured in Wednesday’s attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine.
The unprecedented attack shocked France and there has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity worldwide.
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Police have stormed two hostage sites in Paris and north of the city.
Gunshots and explosions have been heard at a printing facility in Dammartin-en-Goele, where two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo shootings, Cherif and Said Kouachi, were holding at least one hostage.
French media are reporting that brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi have been killed.
Explosions and gunfire could also be heard at kosher supermarket HyperCacher in eastern Paris, at Porte de Vincennes.
A gunman there was thought to be holding several hostages. Reports suggest he is linked to the Charlie Hebdo suspects.
Several hostages could be seen coming out from the HyperCacher supermarket.
The hostage at the printworks warehouse has also been freed, AFP news agency said.
Amedy Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene have been named as suspects wanted in connection with the killing of policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe in Montrouge on January 8 and an ongoing hostage siege at a kosher grocery in a Paris suburb.
Amedy Coulibaly, 32, and his girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, are described as “armed and dangerous”.
The man is also believed to be behind the siege at a kosher grocery in Porte de Vincennes in which two people have reportedly died and at least five people are being held hostage, including women and children.
Amedy Coulibaly reportedly told police: “You know who I am and I’m going to keep these hostages until the siege in Dammartin is lifted.”
Just like the Kouachi brothers, who are believed to be behind Charlie Hebdo attack that left dead 12 people, Amedy Coulibaly was part of the “Buttes-Chaumont network” that helped send would-be jihadists to fight for al-Qaeda in Iraq. 
Amedy Coulibaly was named along with Cherif Kouachi in connection with the 2010 prison escape plot for another Islamist, Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, who bombed the Paris subway in 1995, which injured 30 people.
In 2013, Amedy Coulibaly was condemned to five years in prison for the Belkacem escape plot – but got out of jail just two months ago.
Amedy Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were followers of convicted terrorist Djamel Beghal, according to Le Monde. The two visited Djamel Beghal’s home in Murat in the south of France, according to telephone conversations.
Hayat Boumeddiene has been Amedy Coulibaly’s partner since 2010 and lived in his home while he was serving a prison sentence.
Clarissa Jean-Philippe was shot in the vicinity of Amedy Coulibaly’s intended target – a Jewish primary school, CNN reported.
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Heavily armed anti-terror teams are mobilized in eastern Paris after a gunman has seized hostages at a kosher supermarket.
Schools near the supermarket are under lockdown, AP news agency reports.
Separately police have ordered the closure of all shops in the Marais, a traditionally Jewish area in the heart of Paris’s central tourist district.
The hostage-taker in eastern Paris – said to have taken up to five people prisoner – knew at least one of the suspected Charlie Hebdo attackers, a source told AFP news agency.
The gunman is suspected to be behind the shooting of a policewoman in Montrouge on January 8.
French police have issued an appeal for witnesses to that shooting. They said they were looking for two people: a man called Amedy Coulibaly, 32, and a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26.
The two were thought to be “armed and dangerous”, French police said.
The Charlie Hebdo attackers, named as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, linked by intelligence officials to militant groups, shouted Islamist slogans during the shooting at the magazine office on January 7 and then fled Paris in a hijacked car, heading north.
Shots were fired during a high-speed car chase earlier on Friday.
It appears the suspects had hijacked another car in the town of Montagny-Sainte-Felicite before travelling on to Dammartin.
The car’s owner is said to have recognized them as brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, the key suspects.
In a televised statement, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed the men being sought on January 9 were those wanted for the Charlie Hebdo attack and said they would be “neutralized”.
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Hostages have been taken by a gunman at a Jewish bakery at Porte de Vincennes in Paris.
There are suggestions that the gunman may be the one who shot dead a female police officer on January 8. Police are now evacuating the area.
Separately, an intense standoff is ongoing between police and the Kouachi brothers suspected of carrying out the massacre at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, on January 7.
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The gunman, believed to be the same man who killed a policewoman in Montrouge, southern Paris, on January 8 has reportedly stormed a kosher bakery and grocery store in the Vincennes area, taking five people hostage.
Witnesses said the man is heavily armed and opened fire upon entering the premises. Early reports suggest at least one person was injured in the shooting.
Security forces have rushed to the scene and are cordoning off the area.
The hostages are said to include women and children. Vincennes is located on the eastern outskirts of Paris.
Earlier local media named the Montrouge gunman as Amedy C., a 32-year-old radical belonging to the same jihadi cell of Cherif and Said Kouachi, the brothers who allegedly responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Police have surrounded a building in northern France where Charlie Hebdo massacre suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi are said to have a hostage.
Shots have been fired and several people are said to have been wounded in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles from Paris.
The development comes nearly 48 hours after the attack on Charlie Hebdo‘s office, when 12 people were shot dead.
The heavily armed gunmen fled Paris by car after the attack.
The attackers, who shouted Islamist slogans, are believed to have been angered by Charlie Hebdo‘s irreverent depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
They are said to have shouted “We are al-Qaeda, Yemen”, an apparent reference to the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group (AQAP).
In the US, a senior official has told reporters that one of the two brothers alleged to have carried out the attack, Said Kouachi, spent “a few months” training in Yemen with the group.
Said Kouachi and his younger brother, convicted terrorist Cherif Kouachi, were on a US no-fly list before the attack, a US counter-terrorism official told the New York Times.
In Dammartin, witnesses say police are protecting people in buildings close to the siege of a printing firm building.
Officers from the elite GIGN unit have told people working nearby to stay inside and turn lights off while the operation is going on.
People in the area say police helicopters began arriving around 08:45 local time followed by convoys of armed officers.
Some of those in premises in the industrial area where the suspects are cornered have been evacuated.
Police and military helicopters continue to hover low over the area, while lines of armed officers are guarding the edge of the national highway were traffic continues to flow.
The security situation at the town of Dammartin-en-Goele has affected flights at the main airport in Paris, which is in the vicinity. Officials at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport say they have changed landing and take-off patterns for aircraft in the light of the security situation.
Meanwhile, police are said to have identified a suspect in Thursday’s fatal shooting of a policewoman in Montrouge, south of Paris.
AFP quotes a source close to the investigation as saying that two people in his immediate circle have been taken into custody.
Suspects linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Cherif and Said Kouachi, have taken a hostage at a business facility in a Paris suburb as French police close in on them.
Shots have been fired and several people are said to have been wounded at Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles from Paris, but officials denied reports of deaths.
Negotiations are now under way with police, reports say.
The development comes nearly 48 hours after the attack on Charlie Hebdo‘s office, when 12 people were shot dead.
The heavily armed gunmen fled Paris by car after the attack.
A convoy of police vehicles has been seen heading by highway to Dammartin-en-Goele.
French police are hunting for Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two brothers suspected of carrying out the massacre at the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people died.
Said and Cherif Kouachi are considered “armed and dangerous”, a police bulletin says. Photos were also released of the two suspects, who are Algerian-origin French citizens resident in Paris.
Cherif Kouachi, 32, was jailed in 2008 and had long been known to police for militant Islamist activities, French media reported.
He also went by the name Abu Issen and was part of the “Buttes-Chaumont network” that helped send would-be jihadists to fight for al-Qaeda in Iraq after the US-UK invasion in 2003.
Cherif Kouachi had grown up in an orphanage in Rennes, north-west France, and had trained as a fitness coach before joining his brother in Paris, Liberation newspaper reports. In Paris he worked as a pizza delivery man.
Police detained him in 2005 just as he was about to board a plane for Syria – at the time the gateway for jihadists hoping to fight US troops in Iraq.
In 2008, Cherif Kouachi was jailed for three years, but 18 months of the sentence was suspended, Liberation reports.
Koauchi brothers had allegedly frequented a mosque in the Stalingrad district of Paris, where they came under the influence of a radical imam called Farid Benyettou.
Farid Benyettou reportedly encouraged Said and Cherif Kouachi to study Islam at his home and at a Muslim centre in their neighborhood.
A key figure in the Buttes-Chaumont network was Boubaker al-Hakim, a militant linked to al-Qaeda resistance to US forces in Iraq, a French expert on Islamists says.
Jean-Pierre Filiu, an expert at Sciences-Po University in Paris, says a French court jailed Boubaker al-Hakim for seven years in 2008, at the same time as Cherif Kouachi, along with Farid Benyettou, who got six years. That action broke up the jihadist network they had created.
The experts says in ablog article that Boubaker al-Hakim had recruited militants to fight in Falluja, an Iraqi city that became an al-Qaeda stronghold in 2004.
Boubaker al-Hakim is also wanted in Tunisia over the murder of two Tunisian left-wing opposition politicians in 2013 – Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi. Hakim claimed the murder in the name of the so-called Islamic State group, Jean-Pierre Filiu says.
In 2010 Cherif Kouachi was named in connection with a plot to spring another Islamist, Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, from jail.
Ait Ali Belkacem used to be in the outlawed Algerian Islamic Armed Group (GIA) and was jailed for life in 2002 for a Paris metro station bombing in 1995 which injured 30 people.
Said Kouachi, 34, was also named in the Belkacem plot, but the brothers were not prosecuted, for lack evidence.
Said Kouachi’s ID card was found in the brothers’ getaway car which they abandoned after the shooting, AFP news agency reports, citing police sources.
Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two main suspects in the Islamist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, are said to have robbed a service station in the north of France.
They stole food and petrol, firing shots as they struck at the roadside stop near Villers-Cotterets in the Aisne region, French media report.
France has observed a minute’s silence for the 12 people killed at the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
On January 8, a gunman shot dead a policewoman south of Paris.
A second person was seriously injured in the attack in Montrouge, after which the gunman fled by subway.
It is unclear if the attack is related to the pursuit of prime suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi.
According to the manager of the service station that was robbed on the RN2 road in Aisne at about 10:30AM, the attackers fit the description of the two men, and were heavily armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
They are said to have driven off in the direction of Paris in a Renault Clio car, apparently the same vehicle hijacked in Paris soon after the Charlie Hebdo attack.
According to French commercial channel BFMTV, police are monitoring all of the main entry roads into the capital.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for Charlie Hebdo, Richard Malka, confirmed that next week’s edition of the magazine would go ahead on Wednesday, January 14, and would have a print run of one million, instead of the normal 60,000 copies.
Following the shootings at Charlie Hebdo, there appear to have been a number of revenge attacks on Muslims reported by French media, though nobody was hurt:
- Two shots were fired at a Muslim prayer room in the town of Port-la-Nouvelle in the southern region of Aude on Wednesday evening
- A Muslim family was shot at in their car in Caromb, in the southern region of Vaucluse
- Dummy grenades were thrown during the night at a mosque in Le Mans, western France
- The slogan “Death to Arabs” was daubed on the door of a mosque in Poitiers, central France, during the night
- A blast hit a kebab shop beside a mosque in Villefranche-sur-Saone in central France
Paris has been placed on the highest terror alert and extra troops have been deployed to guard media offices, places of worship, transport and other sensitive areas.
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Cherif and Said Kouachi had been spotted on Thursday, January 8, in a car on a road in the Aisne region of northern France, sources close to the investigation told AFP.
The two brothers are suspected of killing 12 people at the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7.
Cherif and Said Kouachi were reportedly recognized by the manager of a service station near the town of Villers-Cotteret, and still armed.
Arrest warrants were issued for Cherif and Said Kouachi, said to be “armed and dangerous”.
A third suspect, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad handed himself in to police in Charleville-Mezieres. He reportedly surrendered after hearing his name on the news.
Cherif Kouachi, 32, was sentenced in 2008 to three years in prison for belonging to a Paris-based group sending jihadist fighters to Iraq.
Overnight, seven people believed to be connected to the two main suspects in the Charlie Hebdo attack were detained in the towns of Reims and Charleville-Mezieres, as well as in the Paris area.
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A policewoman has been killed in Paris suburb of Porte de Chatillon, a day after suspected Islamists killed 12 people at the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
A second person was seriously injured in the attack in the southern suburb of Montrouge, after which the gunman fled.
It is unclear of the incident is related to the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Police have made seven arrests in the hunt for two brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, the main suspects in Charlie Hebdo massacre. A third has surrendered.
Arrest warrants were issued for Cherif and Said Kouachi, said to be “armed and dangerous”.
Sources close to the investigation told AFP news agency of a report that the two had been spotted on January 8 in a car on a road in the Aisne region of northern France.
They were reportedly recognized by the manager of a service station near the town of Villers-Cotteret, and still armed.
A minute’s silence was observed at midday across the country as France observed national mourning for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack. The bells of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris tolled in mourning.
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French police have made seven arrests as they hunt for two suspects, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, over the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine staff in Paris.
The seven, connected to the two main suspects, were detained in the towns of Reims and Charleville-Mezieres, as well as in the Paris area, police said.
Photos were released of two brothers suspected of involvement in the attack.
France is mourning the 12 people killed when Charlie Hebdo was targeted by gunmen shouting Islamist slogans.
Reports are coming in from Paris of a shooting at a metro station in the south of Paris. At least one police officer is reported to have been injured. It is not known whether the incident is linked to the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
President Francois Hollande is conducting an emergency cabinet meeting in Paris.
A minute’s silence will be observed at midday across the country and the bells of Notre Dame in the capital will toll.
Arrest warrants were issued for Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his brother Said Kouachi, 34, said to be “armed and dangerous”. A third suspect, Hamyd Mourad, a brother-in-law of Kouachi brothers, has surrendered.
Cherif Kouachi was sentenced in 2008 to three years in prison for belonging to a Paris-based group sending jihadist fighters to Iraq.
A third suspect, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad handed himself in to police in Charleville-Mezieres. He reportedly surrendered after hearing his name on the news.
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