Closing in: Two men fitting the description of brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi were spotted after reportedly trying to rob this petrol station near Villers-Cotterêt, close to Reims
'Armed and dangerous': An attendant said the men drove off in a white Renault Clio with number plates covered up in the direction of Paris with 'exposed Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers' inside the vehicle
Detained: Police investigating the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices arrest a suspect in the eastern French city of Reims
Closing in: Seven people have been arrested over the Charlie Hebdo massacre as two brothers with links to terrorist groups went on the run
Police investigators search for evidence during an operation in the French city of Reims after the shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo
Response: Police are seen during an operation in the Croix-Rouge suburb of Reims, northern France, early this morning following the attacks
In their sights: The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group and anti-terrorist police raid an apartment in the Croix Rouge quarter in Reims
Dozens of anti-terror officers surround an apartment in Reims, where suspects have been arrested in connection with the Charlie Hebdo attack
Unfolding terror: A graphic showing the developments since the shootings at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday morning
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France faced a terrorist threat 'without precedent' and confirmed the two Kouachi brothers were known to security services.
But he added it was too early to say whether authorities had underestimated the threat they posed.
'Because they were known, they had been followed,' he told RTL radio, adding: 'We must think of the victims. Today it's a day of mourning.'
Detectives identified the Kouachis after one left his identification papers in the abandoned Citroen car used to escape after the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
A French police source said they were 'armed and dangerous' and that a 'nationwide hunt was underway to find them.'
He added that Mourad, a student, was encouraged to hand himself in by relatives after his name appeared on social media as a suspect for the killings.
A raid by France's elite anti-terrorist unit was underway late yesterday in Reims as part of the hunt for the gunmen who attacked the newspaper
Either the suspects will be able to escape, or 'there will be a showdown', said a member of the unit, urging reporters at the scene to be 'vigilant'
Police officers stand guard outside a building in Reims while forensics look for evidence relating to the three suspects of the Paris attack
Forensic police officers look for evidence relating to the three suspects in an apartment located in the Croix Rouge neigborhood in Reims
Rescue service workers evacuate an injured person on a stretcher after the shooting in Montrouge, where a man wearing a bullet-proof vest fired on police officers with an automatic rifle, seriously injuring one of them
Second attack: Police and firefighters gather at the site of a shooting in Montrouge, south of Paris
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (centre) arrives at the site of a shooting in Montrouge, south of Paris, where two police officers were shot with an automatic weapon by a man wearing a bullet-proof vest
Crucial evidence: A car believed to belong to one of the suspects in the Montrouge shooting is towed away in Arcueil, near Paris
Show of force: Troops patrol around the Eiffel Tower as France raises its terror threat to its highest level after the Charlie Hebdo atrocity
High alert: Military personnel patrol the Gare de L'Est railway station France's Vigipirate terrorist security plan was placed at it's maximum level
Maximum security: Troops patrol the Gare du Nord railway station as the hunt continued for two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo terror attack
Investigator inspect the scene after an attack at a kebab shop near the el Houda mosque in Villefrance-Sur-Saone near Lyon
Said was freed after questioning by police, but – like his brother – was known to have been radicalised after the Iraq War of 2003, when Anglo-American forces deposed Saddam Hussein.
Both brothers were said to be infuriated by the killing of Muslims by western soldiers and war planes.
Vincent Olliviers, Cherif's lawyer at the time, described him as initially being an 'apprentice loser' - a delivery boy in a cap who smoked hashish and delivered pizzas to buy his drugs.
But Mr Ollivier said the 'clueless kid who did not know what to do with his life met people who gave him the feeling of being important.'
Losers: The brothers were once described as 'failed commandos', while Cherif's lawyer called him an 'apprentice loser' after he was arrested in 2005. Here, he is pictured in a 2007 video posing as a rapper
'Good body, shame it will be riddled with bullets:' This image was taken from a Facebook profile set up in April 2014 under the name of Said Kouachi. While it cannot be verified, it contains radical Islamic material and has attracted death threats since yesterday's attacks
My brother: Among the images is this picture, captioned le frero which translates as 'my brother', showing a man training with an AK-47 rifle, the same weapon used in yesterday's attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices
'Massacre': The gunmen are seen brandishing Kalashnikovs as they move in on the injured police officer from their vehicle outside the office
Gunned down in cold blood: Horrific footage shows the injured police officer slumped on the pavement as two of the gunmen approach. In a desperate plea for his life, the officer slowly raises his hand towards one of the attackers, who callously shoots him at point-blank range
Brutal execution: A police officer pleads for mercy on the pavement in Paris before being shot in the head by masked gunmen during an attack on the headquarters of the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, a notoriously anti-Islamic publication
Running away: Gunmen shoot dead a wounded police officer on the ground at point-blank range as they flee the offices of Charlie Hebdo
After his short prison sentence, Cherif was in 2010 linked with a plot to free Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, the mastermind of the 1995 bombing of the St Michel metro station in Paris that killed eight people and wounded more than 100 more.
Belkacem was a leading members of the GIA, or Armed Islamic Army – an Algerian terror outfit responsible for numerous atrocities.
Said and Cherif, both orphans, were born in Paris but grew up in foster care in Renne, Brittany.
They returned to Paris aged 18, when they moved to a council estate in Paris's 19th arrondissement. During this time Cherif was arrested for both drug dealing and theft.
With no direction or aspirations, the pair were quickly taken in by a gang known as Buttes-Chaumont, run by two Imams from northern Paris, one of whom was Farid Benyettou, a janitor-turned-preacher.
Show of defiance: Journalists from the international press agency Agence France-Presse hold signs reading 'Je suis Charlie' (I am Charlie) at their headquarters in Paris as they observe a minute of silence for the victims of an attack by armed gunmen on the offices of Charlie Hebdo
Moving: Members of the European Parliament and citizens gather during a minute's silence for victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting
In their memory: Flowers are laid outside the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices in Paris a day after masked gunmen killed 12 in a terror attack
Hundreds of people gather on the Human Rights square in Saint-Denis de la Reunion in the Indian Ocean for victims of the massacre
Stronger together: Members of the French community gather in Melbourne in a show of solidarity to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre
Journalists and supporters of press freedom hold signs reading 'Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie)' in Hong Kong in tribute to the victims
How the attack unfolded: This graphic shows the route taken by the gunmen who stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo at about 11.25am
Louis Caprioli, former deputy director of the anti-terror unit at the French intelligence agency, described the gang as 'young hoodlums who became radical. They organised a network to get people to Iraq,' according to The Times .
The brothers were known to have been radicalised some time around 2003 after the second Iraq War, apparently infuriated by Western troops and jets killing Arabic soldiers.
They were arrested over their connection to the gang in 2005 amid rumours they were training to go to Iraq, though in reality all this involved was a daily jog.
Cherif's lawyer presented him in court as a man taken in by people 'who gave him the feeling of being important.'
Around this time he appeared on a French TV programme, apparently repenting for his crimes, and saying he had now become a rapper.
Footage, believed to be taken in 2007, shows Cherif wearing a cap, sunglasses, and performing music while dancing on stage alongside other artists.
However by 2008 he was back working as a fishmonger, and was again arrested trying to board a plane to Damascus while carrying an instruction manual on how to operate a Kalashnikov rifle, one of the weapons used in yesterday's attack.
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