Bloody climax: A huge ball of fire erupts amid gunfire and explosions at a print works where the Charlie Hebdo gunmen were holding a hostage
Two
hostage sieges came to a bloody and dramatic climax today after police
stormed two buildings in France, killing the Charlie Hebdo gunmen and
an accomplice.
At
the first stand-off, Al Qaeda brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi were
shot dead by special forces as they tried to fight their way out of a
print works.
Their hostage, named as Michel Catalano, is believed to have been rescued alive.
Moments
later, explosions were heard at a second siege in Paris where a fellow
jihadi was threatening to kill captives if police stormed the Kouachis.
At
least one hostage is believed to have survived that stand-off, at a
kosher supermarket, in what appears to have been a co-ordinated strike
by police.
However, there are reports four captives had been killed.
The gunmen, Amedy Coulibay, who was suspected of killing a police officer yesterday, was reportedly shot dead by police.
Explosions were seen moments later at a second hostage siege in Paris where an accomplice was threatening to kill captives if police stormed the Kouachis
Gunfire
and explosions had been heard at the first hostage siege after police
had surrounded the gunmen at an industrial estate 25 miles from Paris.
The siege reached a bloody climax when the brothers reportedly 'came out firing' after an nine-hour stand-off.
They had earlier told police negotiators: 'We are ready to die as martyrs'.
At around 4.30pm, people living nearby reported hearing three or four load explosions followed by several gunshots.
More explosions followed and smoke could be seen rising from the building. Others reported seeing ambulances race to the scene.
A short time later three French special forces officers could be seen on the roof of the building.
Then,
at around 5.30 pm, three large helicopters arrived at the scene and
landed on the roof. The hostage was named as Michel Catalano.
His
family were gathered at their detached home in the nearby village of
Othis as the siege came to a dramatic end in Dammartin-en-Goele.
Coulibay is believed behind the murder of a police officer yesterday and a new hostage crisis ongoing in Paris today.
The third hostage-taker, named as Amedy Coulibay, 32, this afternoon took at least six captives at a kosher grocery, leaving two people dead.
Police say Coulibay is demanding that the Kouachi brothers be allowed to go free in return for his captives.
In their sights: Police train their weapons on a building where the Charlie Hebdo gunmen are holed up with a hostage in Dammartin-en-Goele
Frantic: Police rush to the scene of the hostage-taking at an industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele around 25 miles from Paris
Siege: The gunmen are surrounded by police commandos who have begun negotiations to try to secure the release of the hostage
Trapped: The brothers were cornered in the premises of a printing firm after leading police on a dramatic car chase
Scoping it out: Police and armed forces take up positions in Dammartin-en-Goele after landing by helicopter in fields near the hostage scene
Suspects: The three men were named as Cherif Kouachi (left), 32, his brother Said Kouachi (right), 34, and Hamyd Mourad, 18, of Gennevilliers
Revelations that a call was made by the Kouachis suggests they may have instructed Coulibay to carry out today's atrocity to leverage their escape.
There were reports of another alert near the Eiffel Tower, with police seen training their guns down the stairs of a Metro station, but it was a false alarm.
Local media reports that the brothers met Coulibay while in prison.
He is believed to be a fellow member of the Buttes Chaumont – a gang from the 19th arrondissement of Paris that sent jihadists to fight in Iraq.
The Kouachis were cornered in Dammartin-en-Goele, around 25 miles from the capital, this morning after leading police on a dramatic car chase.
After exchanging gunfire with officers, they fled on foot into printing works where they are holding a hostage, believed to be a 26-year-old male.
After a meeting with President Hollande when news of the siege broke, MP Nicolas Dupont-Aignan said: 'It's time to terrorise the terrorists'
Hemmed in: Police officers create a ring of steel around the industrial estate where the Charlie Hebdo killers are holding a hostage
MailOnline understands police scrambled phone signals in the area after the gunmen made contact with a fellow jihadist from the building
How three days of terror unfolded after gunmen first stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday
A salesman called Didier later told how he was supposed to meet a client called Michel at the print works, but was instead met by one of the gunmen.
He said he shook hands with the militant because he had identified himself as a police officer and was carrying a Kalashnikov rifle.
He said: 'When I arrived, my client came out with an armed man who said he was from the police.
'My client told me to leave so I left,' Didier said, identifying the man he was to meet with as Michel.'
He said the black-clad man who was wearing a bullet-proof vest told him: 'Leave, we don't kill civilians anyhow'.
'That really struck me,' Didier added. 'So I decided to call the police. I guess it was one of the terrorists.
'It could have been a policeman if he hadn't told me "we don't kill civilians". They were heavily armed like elite police.'
'I didn't know it was a hostage situation, or a robbery. I just knew something wasn't quite right. I think I am going to go and see my colleagues and play the lottery because I was very lucky this morning.'
Meanwhile, a worker in a nearby building told how he barricaded the doors as the hostage crisis unfolded.
He said: 'None of us feel safe. We can hear the helicopters. It is terrifying.'
One of the pupils inside the Dammartin-en-Goele school said by phone from inside: 'We're scared. We've called our parents to make sure they're OK.
'We've been told we have to stay inside. All the lights have been switched off.'
On guard: A police officer stands along a road near the industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele, some 25 miles north-east of Paris
Police check vehicles near the industrial estate. Residents were warned to stay indoors and pupils were being kept inside school
Snipers had their weapons trained on the building and helicopters were hovering overhead as negotiations were underway with the Islamic fanatics.
Runways have been closed at Charles de Gaulle airport, around five miles away over fears the gunmen have rocket launchers that can down planes.
Police confirmed a hostage had been taken and that officers are 'trying to establish contact' with the suspects.
The family of Michel Catalano, the director of the firm at the centre of the siege told Le Figaro newspaper that they had not spoken to him since this morning and feared he may be the hostage.
Mr Catalano and his wife Veronique live in Othis, less than four miles from the scene.
After a meeting with President Hollande when news of the siege broke, politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan said: 'It's time to terrorise the terrorists.'
Referring to Islam, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said: 'We are in a war against terrorists, we're not in a war with religion.'
An Interior Ministry source confirmed that the men had said they were 'ready to die as martyrs'.
Prior to the standoff, the suspects hijacked a Peugeot 206 from a woman in Ermenonville Forest, close to the village of Montagny-Sainte-Felicite, agyer abandoning their Renualt Clio.
A teacher named Charlene Blondelle was driving to work in the morning when she saw two men with guns stop the vehicle in front of her.
It was only when she got to work at the village school that she realised the two heavily-armed men were the Kouachi brothers.
Jean Paul Douet, the mayor of the village, said Charlene saw the two men force the woman out of the car and sit in the back seat.
It is thought that she was later let out of the car as the men continued their journey to Dammartin-en-Goele.
Both women are with police officers in Nanteuil-le-Haudouin. It is not thought that the woman sustained any injuries.
Mr Douet told MailOnline: 'The car was taken at around 8.10am. The village teacher arrived at her school to see a car being hijacked in front of her.
'She saw their weapons, and in particular their rocket-propelled grenade launcher.'
French media reported the brothers were in a car when they came upon her and abandoned that to use hers instead.
She recognised them as the wanted men, a police source said.
A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said there was an exchange of gunfire with police who were manning a roadblock on the N2 motorway as the brother sped towards Paris.
He told France Info radio that no-one was injured in the clash.
Holed up: The gunmen escaped on foot into a small printing business (above) called Creating Trend Discovery, just before 9am GMT
Terror in the midst: Dammartin-en-Goele is in lockdown, with children in its three schools being kept inside for their own protection
Dozens of police then pursued the brothers along the National 2 highway, ending in Dammartin-en-Goele, close to the area where the huge manhunt had been focused on a forest overnight.
They escaped on foot with a hostage into a small printing business named Creating Trend Discovery, just before 10am (9am GMT).
Residents were warned on the town's official website to stay indoors and pupils were being kept inside school.
Natoly Ratsimbazasy, a hairdresser in Dammartan-en-Goele, said the town - of 6,000 inhabitants - was deserted.
He told MailOnline: 'It is very quiet in the centre. We have all been told to stay indoors and away from the windows. They have sealed off the area. We are all very scared, especially for the children. We don't know how this is all going to end.'
A restaurateur in the town said: 'It is insane what is happening, I can't believe it.'
Universities and schools in the surroundings of the hostage crisis are shut for the day.
Student Nishanth Selvakumer, 20, said: 'Every one is so shocked. There is not much work in Dammartain so most people work on the industrial estate.
'In the village, they have been told to stay in their homes and stay away from the windows. The schools are all shut and the universities too.'
Rayane Bouallayuer, 18, said his 11-year-old sister and his father were barricaded into the school.
'My sister went to school at 8am but at 9am we saw on TV that the suspects came here so my father went to get her. Now they cannot leave.'
'The teachers have spoken to the kids and explained to them what happened in Paris. Yesterday they had a minutes silence at school but I think today they are very scared. Some of them were crying.
'My family is Muslim but these men are not real Muslims. They are not like me. They do not represent us. Now it is going to get much worse for us real Muslims in France. '
Stake out: Snipers train their weapons on the building as negotiations were underway with the Islamic fanatics
A helicopter searching for Charlie Hebdo suspects hovers above Dammartin-en-Goele as the net closed in on the killers
Universities and schools near the hostage scene have been shut as police set up a ring of steel around Dammartin-en-Goele
Police vans are seen chasing the Charlie Hebdo killers amid fears they have taken hostages on a 'martyrdom mission' towards Paris
Carole Morais, who works in the town hall, said: 'We're locked in and following events on the internet'.
The hunt also affected flights at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, which closed two runways to arrivals to avoid interfering in the standoff or endangering planes.
The dramatic development came after thousands of police and soldiers had focused their hunt for the gunmen in a nearby forest amid fears they were planning a final 'spectacular' before capture.
The search for the gunmen last night focused on a cave in a vast forest in northern France, but had turned up nothing.
The pair left behind their identity cards in the Citroen they used for the massacre – a move which appeared deliberate, intelligence specialists said.
There was also no sign of the AK-47s and rocket launchers which they had earlier been seen with, suggesting they had taken them into the forest.
Police now fear they could take hostages or are planning a final 'spectacular' before capture as the search enters its third day.
Meanwhile, shots rang out close to the Porte de Vincennes in Paris as another hostage crisis unfolded.
'There is a hostage situation - shots have been fired,' said a Paris police spokesman, who said up to five people were originally being held in Vincennes and there were 'believed to be two fatalities'.
French police have now named the suspected hostage taker as Amedy Coulibaly, 33, while his girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, is also believed to be involved.
Footage from a local broadcaster shows a team of heavily armed police officers swarming into the area, where a gunman linked to the Charlie Hebdo killers was holding up to five hostages in a Kosher store in eastern Paris
Armed police face off against the gunman, suspected to the person responsible for shooting policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe yesterda
Amedy Coulibay (left) is believed to be behind the murder of a police officer yesterday and a new hostage crisis ongoing in Paris today. He is believed to be working with his girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene (right) who is also said to be 'armed and dangerous'
Pictured: Police officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe was gunned down as she attended a routine traffic accident in Montrouge at 8am yesterday
Coulibay is believed to be the one responsible for shooting a policewoman dead in south Paris on Thursday.
The revelation has led police to link it to the murder of 12 people around the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine on Wednesday.
Clarissa Jean-Philippe, 27, was unarmed and directing traffic in Montrouge, in south Paris, when she was gunned down by Coulibay, who was still wearing body armour and using an automatic assault rifle.
The murderer has been identified by police who said he belonged to the Buttes Chaumont network, which sent Jihadi fighters to Iraq.
'He was in the same Buttes Chaumount cell as the Kouachi brothers,' said a source close to the investigation. 'He was friends of both of them.'
Two of Coulibay relatives were arrested in nearby Grigny during a police raid this morning.
Like the Kouachis, he is known to have been radicalised by an Islamic preacher in Paris, before expressing a wish to fight in Iraq or Syria.
Police officers stop two people on a scooter at gunpoint as they arrive near the scene of the hostage taking
The pair are aggressively wrestled to the ground by police officers tasked with preventing anyone coming and going from the scene
Police cordons (pictured) have been established to surround the kosher bakery, where it's thought a woman and children are held captive
Unfolding terror: A graphic showing the developments since the shootings at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday morning
It came as Prime Minister Manuel Valls admitted the Kouachi brothers were on the radar of the intelligence services and 'were likely' to have been under surveillance before the atrocity.
Yesterday, the brothers abandoned their car near the village of Abbaye de Longpont shortly after robbing a petrol station yesterday.
Anti-terror officers found a jihadi flag and a Molotov cocktail in the Renault Clio the gunmen hijacked to escape the French capital – and two men fitting their descriptions were seen running into the Foret de Retz, which covers an area larger than Paris.
A petrol station attendant in Villers-Cotterets told police he had seen Kalashnikovs (AK-47s) and rocket launchers in the vehicle which had sped away after the men had stolen food and water.
There are fewer than 300 residents in Longpont and armed officers were carrying out house-to-house searches as helicopters with thermal imagery equipment capable of identifying human bodies among the trees were called in.
Last night, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a total of nine people were now in custody and more than 90 witnesses had been interviewed.
When and why that surveillance was dropped were two of the many questions being asked yesterday as a senior American counter-terrorism official confirmed that the brothers were on the US no-fly list.
But officials were tight-lipped about what else they know about them, including whether they fought in the Middle East with extremist groups.
Grief-stricken: Jeannette Bougrab, the partner of 'Charb' – Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of Charlie Hebdo – joins a rally outisde the Paris City Hall. In an emotional interview, she said she always knew he would be assassinated
source: DAily Mail