French Police Are Dealing With Two Linked Hostage Situations

adminJanuary 9, 2015UncategorisedComments are off for this post

Pamela Engel, Michael B Kelley and Dina Spector

CH Porte De Vincennes Cops2

French policeHandout photos released by French Police in Paris of Cherif Kouachi (L), 32, and his brother Said Kouachi, 34

Here are the two suspects in the murder of the policewoman:

Authorities in northern France are closing in on two brothers who allegedly carried out an attack against a satirical magazine in Paris.

Simultaneously, a man thought to be connected to the suspects has taken hostages in eastern Paris.

Special forces and anti-terrorism personnel have surrounded a printing business in the small northern town of Dammartin-en-Goele after at least one person was taken hostage by the suspects.

In eastern Paris, there has been a shootout at a kosher supermarket involving a man suspected of killing a policewoman on Thursday. Witnesses told the Associated Press that the gunman has an automatic rifle and that there are multiple hostages and people are wounded. At least two people have been killed and at least five hostages are thought to be inside the supermarket, according to AFP.

CH Porte De Vincennes Cops2 Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty ImagesPolice forces gather together at Porte de Vincennes, east of Paris, after at least one person was injured when a gunman opened fire at a kosher grocery store on January 9, 2015 and took at least five people hostage, sources told AFP.

Reuters reports that all three men were members of a Paris terrorism cell that helped funnel fighters into Iraq during the American invasion a decade ago. The Paris gunman reportedly told police: "I’m going to keep these hostages until siege in Dammartin is lifted"

Business Insider, Google Maps

The mayor of a town near Dammartin-en-Goele in northern France told NBC’s Richard Engel that there could be as many as 5 to 7 hostages inside the building where the brothers are thought to be holed up.

Business Insider, Google MapsPolice and anti-terrorist forces blocked all entries to the town of about 8,000.

Police have made contact with the two men in Dammartin-en-Goele, according to the Associated Press.

Both situations are fluid. Police in Paris are surrounding the grocery store.

French authorities have been preparing for a second attack or a hostage situation after gunmen stormed the Paris offices of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, killing 10 journalists and two police officers. The event was France’s deadliest terror attack in decades.

Terrorist Connections

Suspects in the Charlie Hedbo massacre are Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, are French nationals.

Cherif was reportedly convicted on terrorism charges in 2008 for helping funnel fighters into Iraq and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

US and European sources close to the investigation said that Said was in Yemen for several months in 2011, reportedly meeting with met leading Al Qaeda preacher Anwar al Awlaki.

There is no confirmed indication that the two men were under direction from any terrorist network.

French policeHandout photos released by French Police in Paris of Cherif Kouachi (L), 32, and his brother Said Kouachi, 34.

Reuters notes that one of the suspects in the killing of the policewoman was sentenced in 2010 for his role in a failed prison break-out of Smain Ali Belkacem, who masterminded a 1995 attack on the Paris transport system that killed eight people and wounded 120.

Cherif Kouachi was also implicated in the incident, but his case was eventually dropped.

Here are the two suspects in the murder of the policewoman:

Twitter, Prefecture De Police De France

Charlie Hedbo Suspects ‘Want To Die As Martyrs.’

The standoff in Dammartin-en-Goele comes after a high speed chase during which gunshots rang out and police trucks, ambulances, helicopters, and armored vehicles descended on the area close to Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.

CH Manhunt Helicopter 1 Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesA French Army helicopter waits in a field surrounding an industrial estate where it is thought the suspects linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre are holding a hostage on January 9, 2015 in Dammartin en Goele, France.

The AP reports that Yves Albarello, a lawmaker who said he was inside the command post, said the two brothers "want to die as martyrs."

The French interior minister said there was a police operation underway to "neutralize" the suspects, according to AFP.

REUTERS/Eric Gaillard French gendarmes secure the roundabout near the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris January 9, 2015.

A witness who said he came into contact with the suspects at the printing business in which they reportedly took a hostage gave this account of the interaction to France Info radio:

The man, who would only [give] his name as Didier, said he had an appointment with Michel, the owner of the printing and publicity material business. Didier said he shook one of the gunmen’s hands who he took to be police special operations officer. He was dressed in black and was heavily armed with at least one rifle.

He said when he arrived at the business his client came out to meet him with what he took to be a policeman, dressed in black combat gear, with a bulletproof vest.

"We all shook hands and my client told me to leave." Didier added that the man he took to be the policeman said: "Go, we don’t kill civilians". He added "I thought was strange."

Police are reportedly warning people to stay away from the town if they can, saying that it is "very dangerous," according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Here are some photos from the operation in Dammartin-en-Goele:

REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

CH Manhunt6 Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images