Police and army forces take positions in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast Paris, as part of an operation to seize two heavily armed suspects, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015.

Police and army forces take positions in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast Paris, as part of an operation to seize two heavily armed suspects, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Michel Spengler/AP

Threats

A Dramatic End to the French Hostage Standoff

As French police surrounded the Paris gunmen, where the two have at least one hostage, another related hostage crisis is unfolding in a Paris supermarket. By Adam Chandler and Dashiell Bennett

Adam Chandler and Dashiell Bennett,
The Atlantic

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By Adam Chandler and Dashiell Bennett,
The Atlantic

Update: At least three hostage takers, including the two main suspects in the Paris massacre this week, have been killed following a simultaneous police operation on both hostage locations.

Around 11:00 a.m. Eastern, explosions could be heard and smoke seen at the print shop complex where Cherif and Said Kouachi had taken a hostage. At the same time, AFP reported that police sources said an operation was under way. There was also some gunfire. The "explosion" may have been flash bangs used by police as the moved in, but details of the operation were not immediately available.

At 11:14 a.m., CNN reported that explosions and gunfire could also be heard at the kosher market in Porte de Vincennes. Moments later, several people — apparently hostages — could be seen leaving the market.

AFP was first to report that the suspects were dead at the printing press and their hostage is free. Le Monde also reported that the two suspects in Dammartin-en-Goele were killed. Furthermore, Le Monde reported that Amedy Coulibaly was also killed at the kosher supermarket. Reuters, AP, and CNN all confirmed those reports that all three suspects are dead, via government and police sources.

Reuters reports that at least four hostages were killed at the kosher supermarket, but it's unclear if they were killed in the raid, or during the initial hostage taking. Some people were taken away from the scene in ambulances, but the status of the rest of the hostages is unknown.

Police have surrounded the two suspects in this week's mass murder of 12 people at a French magazine's office, but are simultaneously dealing with a second hostage situation in Paris, perpetrated by a third man connected to the killers.

French security forces have sealed off the small town of Dammartin-en-Goele, where Cherif and Said Kouachi are reportedly holed up in a printing shop. The two brothers have been on the run sinceWednesday's massacre at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris. According to reports, there is at least one hostage.

Meanwhile, in Paris, another gunmen has reportedly taken at least five people hostage in a kosher supermarket. The suspect in that standoff is believed to be the same man who shot and killed a female police officer on Thursday. While that shooting was not originally believed to be related to the Charlie Hebdo attack, police now say the shootings are all connected.

Dammartin-en-Goele is located northeast of Paris, near Charles de Gaulle Airport, which is Paris's main flight center. The grocery store is in Porte de Vincennes, on the southern and eastern edge of Paris. The two locations are about 25 miles apart.

There were media reports that two people were killed in the supermarket, but Interior Ministry officials denied that.

Police have made contact with the brothers, who had exchanged gunfire with police during a car pursuit early on Friday morning. Yves Albarello, an official with the French crisis team, told reporters that the two suspects have expressed a desire to die “as martyrs.”

The suspect in the supermarket incident is Amedy Coulibaly. On Friday, Coulibaly and a woman, Hayat Boumeddiene, were named as suspects in the shooting of the police officer in the neighborhood ofMontrouge on Thursday. Reuters reports that police sources say Coulibaly was a member of the same jihadist group as the Kouachi brothers , and may possibly have been the third suspect in the Charlie Hebdo killings.

(An 18-year-old man who turned himself into authorities on Thursday, after hearing his name reported in the media, has been cleared as a suspect in the shootings.)

Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi knew each other. Both were arrested in 2010 for their role in the failed prison break of another terror suspect.

Police have barricaded and sealed off the surrounding areas in both situations, and residents in Dammartin-en-Goele have been told to stay indoors. Schools in the vicinity of both standoffs have also been closed and evacuated. Other Jewish businesses across Paris have been asked to close as well, for security reasons, but since the Sabbath begins at sundown, most would be closing soon anyway.

In Vincennes, police were caught on camera dramatically arresting two people on a scooter who came too close to the police line.

France24's live broadcast shows scores of heavily armed tactical units deployed in both locations, though they do not appear to be taking action at the moment.

The Associated Press reports that the market gunmen, Coulibaly, has threatened to kill his hostages should police storm the brothers in Dammartin-en-Goele.

One witness who works at the printing press in question told Radio France (in an interview rebroadcast on CNN) that the two gunmen came into the factory claiming to be police, and he shook hands with one of them. They were "heavily armed" and wearing bulletproof vests. The men were accompanied by the owner, who let the men into the building and then told the witness he should leave. The terrorists let him leave without incident.

This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.

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