Shocking news from Paris - very sad - 3 gunmen killed - 4 hostages dead - the world's heart must unite and pray for an end to radical extremism in all its forms - pictures

Hollande calls attack on Paris supermarket an 'appalling anti-Semitic act'

French President Francois Hollande confirmed reports on Friday that four hostages were killed at a siege of a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris.

Hollande called for national unity and said the country should remain "implacable" in the face of racism and anti-Semitism.

"It is indeed an appalling anti-Semitic act that was committed," he said of the hostage-taking by an Islamist gunman at the Hyper Cacher supermarket in the Vincennes district.

Some hostages were seen rushing from the market after heavily armed police broke the siege at the same time as they ended a separate stand-off in northern France involving the two Islamist suspects behind the killings at Charlie Hebdo magazine this week. 

Reuters

6:18am: The moment police special forces moved in on the terrorists in the grocery store in east Paris, killing Amedy Coulibaly. Four hostages were killed in the siege.

A screengrab taken from an AFP TV video shows a general view of members of the French police special forces launching the assault at a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris. Photo: AFP

6:02am:

French President says police special forces acted in 'one movement'

French President Francois Hollande has addressed the nation and praised the police for their courage and actions in ending the two sieges.

He said the police special forces acted in 'one movement' to end the sieges when given the order so that the lives of hostages could be saved.

"We are proud of them because when the order was given they assaulted in one movement with the same result," he said in a television address. 

"They did it to save lives, the lives of the hostages."

Praised police ... French President Francois Hollande. Photo: AFP

5:54am:

#BREAKING Charlie Hebdo gunman told French TV he was sent and financed by Al Qaeda

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 9, 2015

5:21am:

#BREAKING Armed robber takes two hostage at jewellery store in southern French city

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 9, 2015

5:02am:

#UPDATE: Four critically wounded in Paris supermarket hostage drama, says security source

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 9, 2015

4:49am:

Female terrorist suspect was in grocery siege and escaped: reports

There are unconfirmed reports that Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, the female suspect in the killing of a policewoman earlier this week, took part in the siege of a grocery store in east Paris. She escaped and is still at large, the BBC reports.

Hayat Boumeddiene (left) and Amedy Coulibaly (right) are suspected of being involved in the killing of a policewoman in Montrouge on January 8. Coulibaly is also supected to have taken a hostages at a kosher grocery store in east Paris. Photo: AFP

4:32am: Farid Bara, who works 50 metres from where the hostages were held at the printworks buildings filmed the video below. He wrote in his Facebook post: "I can tell you that we had the impression of being at war, the entire Area is squared by the cops and helicopters".

 

Post by Farid Bara.

4:16am:

Four hostages killed at Paris kosher supermarket: reports

A French security source has revealed four hostages and the gunman holding them in a Paris kosher supermarket have been killed.

The store was raided by security forces and other hostages have been freed.

AP

Members of the French police special forces evacuate the hostages after launching the assault at a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, east Paris. Photo: AFP

4:08am:

#BREAKING Five dead, including gunman, in Paris supermarket hostage drama: security source

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 9, 2015

4:07am:

Several hostages freed at Jewish supermarket in Paris. Photo Thomas Samson #AFP pic.twitter.com/C9ltgMT0Wl — AFP Photo Department (@AFPphoto) January 9, 2015

3:50am:

Assault against Kouachi brothers at Dammartin printworks

An AFP reporter who witnessed the French commandos storming the building at Dammartin says it went roughly like this:
- First a loud detonation from the building.
- A series of 30-40 gunshots was heard.
- Another big explosion, a flash of light and smoke was seen.
- An army helicopter, pictured here, flew in and landed either on the building roof or just behind it.
- Special forces alighted from it.
- There were a lot of small flashes of light on the roof of the building with no obvious sound attached - perhaps small arm fire, perhaps torches.
- A few minutes later there was another detonation and the lights flashing on the roof again.
- And then it was over. Police/army and special forces moved in the open outside the building without apparent urgency.

Nick Miller

Smoke rises from a building in Dammartin-en-Goele, north-east of Paris, where two brothers suspected of killing 12 people in an Islamist attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo held one person hostage. Photo: AFP

3:41am:

French commandos launch coordinated assaults

The suspects in the terror attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo have been killed and their hostage freed, a source has told Agence France Presse.

French commandos launched an assault on Friday evening on a building where the suspects were holed up with a hostage.

The operation unfolded at a printing firm in a small town northeast of Paris following Wednesday's attack in the city that killed 12 people at the satirical magazine.

Simultaneously an assault was launched at the site of a police siege in east Paris where a gunman was holding several hostages in a Jewish kosher grocery store.

Several hostages were reported to have been freed in that assault. 

AFP

Before the assault ... French special forces take position with sniper rifles on the rooftop of a complex at an industrial building in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Photo: Reuters

3:24am:

Hostage at printing press free and safe after police assault

Initial reports are surfacing that the Charlie Hebdo terrorists, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, have been killed by police and their hostage has been freed.

3:21am:

BREAKING Several hostages freed at Jewish supermarket in Paris: AFP

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 9, 2015

3:20am:

FLASH Charlie Hebdo suspects killed: source

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 9, 2015

3:19am:

Multiple explosions and shots fired at Paris grocery store

Three or four explosions and gunfire has been heard at the second siege where Amedy Coulibaly is alleged to be holding up to six hostages in a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, east Paris.

3:02am:

Explosions and gunfire heard at siege at Dammartin-en-Goele

Gunfire was heard at a printing business where Said and Cherif Kouachi are holding a woman hostage in a printing business in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele. 

Three large detonations were heard.

It is still unclear if police have launched an assault on the Kouachi brothers.

2:44am:

Terrorists surrounded by police in two hostage standoffs

Barely 48 hours after the Charlie Hebdo massacre Paris was facing two simultaneous hostage sieges involving Islamist terrorists.

The Kouachi brothers behind the Hebdo attack were pinned down by police at a family-run printing business in a town 40km north of the French capital, after taking a hostage on their way into the building.

Amedy Coulibaly, reported to be a 'close friend' of the brothers went into a kosher supermarket in Paris' inner east, firing a rifle, and taking an estimated six hostages. 

There are conflicted reports as to whether two people were killed by Coulibaly.

He is believed to be the same man who shot dead policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe in south Paris on Thursday.

His girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, is also a suspect in this deadly incident.

On Friday morning the manhunt for the terrorists behind the attack on Charlie Hebdo converged on the town of Dammartin-en-Goele.

Said and Cherif Kouachi had reportedly hijacked a woman's car in a town to Paris' north-east, and she alerted police.

- Nick Miller and Daniel Fallon

Hayat Boumeddiene (left) and Amedy Coulibaly (right) are suspected of being involved in the killing of a policewoman in Montrouge on January 8. Coulibaly is also supected to have taken a hostages at a kosher grocery store in east Paris. Photo: AFP

French Police surround Paris gunmen - pics

French police have surrounded a building in a northern town where two men suspected of the Charlie Hebdo massacre are said to have a hostage.

Shots have been fired and several people are said to have been wounded in Dammartin-en-Goele, 35km (22 miles) from Paris.

The development comes nearly 48 hours after the attack on the magazine'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 the satirical magazine'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 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.

At the scene: Piers Scholfield, BBC News, Dammartin-en-Goele

It's a dramatic scene. The area around the small town of Dammartin is rapidly filling up with thousands of French police and anti-terror forces.

Several Puma helicopters are hovering over the area. Hundreds of police cars and armoured vehicles have arrived. Press were rapidly moved on from the area amid warnings of danger to onlookers.

Huge convoys of police line the main N2 highway.

There are now reports of flights being cancelled at nearby Charles de Gaulle airport.

A massive police operation is under way in Dammartin-en-Goele

The suspects are holed up on an industrial estate

Roads into the town have been sealed off by police

Residents warned

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 (07:45 GMT) 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 say they have changed landing and take-off patterns for aircraft in the light of the security situation.

Meanwhile, police are said to have have identified a suspect in Thursday's fatal shooting of a policewoman in Montrouge, south of Paris.

AFP news agency quotes a source close to the investigation as saying that two people in his immediate circle have been taken into custody.

Charlie Hebdo victims

• Economist and regular magazine columnist Bernard Maris, 68, known to readers as "Uncle Bernard"
• Cartoonists Georges Wolinski, 80, and Jean "Cabu" Cabut, 76
• Charlie Hebdo editor and cartoonist Stephane "Charb" Charbonnier, 47, who had been living under police protection since receiving death threats
• Cartoonists Bernard "Tignous" Verlhac, 57, and Philippe Honore, 73
• Mustapha Ourrad, proof-reader
• Elsa Cayat, psychoanalyst and columnist, the only woman killed
• Michel Renaud, who was visiting from the city of Clermont-Ferrand
• Frederic Boisseau, 42, caretaker, who was in the reception area at the time of the attack
• Police officers Franck Brinsolaro, who acted as Charb's bodyguard, and Ahmed Merabet, 42, who was shot dead while on the ground

The victims

Obituary: Defiant editor

On Thursday, France marked a national day of mourning for those killed in Paris.

A minute's silence was held in public spaces and 20 imams joined hundreds gathered outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo to express sympathy for the victims. Later, the lights on the Eiffel Tower were turned off as a mark of respect.

Several thousand people gathered in the Place de la Republique in Paris for a second night, lighting candles and waving signs that read "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie"). Other vigils were held across the world

The lawyer for Charlie Hebdo, Richard Malka, has said that next week's edition of the magazine will go ahead on Wednesday and will have a print run of one million instead of the normal 60,000 copies.

Politicians and journalists across the globe have widely condemned the shooting as an attack on freedom of speech and the press.