Charlie Hebdo hunt: Double hostage crisis in France

French soldier patrol near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as part of the highest level of "Vigipirate"" security plan after a shooting at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 9."
French soldier patrol near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as part of the highest level of "Vigipirate"" security plan after a shooting at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 9."
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BBC Online :A gunman has seized hostages at a kosher supermarket in Paris as police in northern France have cornered the two Charlie Hebdo massacre suspects.A police officer told the BBC that two people were confirmed dead after a gunman believed to be the killer of a policewoman in Montrouge entered the supermarket near Porte de Vincennes.Armed police have flooded the area. In Dammartin-en-Goele, 35km (22 miles) north-east of Paris, the Charlie Hebdo suspects are also holding a hostage.The Islamist militants are inside a small printing business and have reportedly said they are prepared to die.Twelve people were shot dead and 11 were injured in the attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine which freely mocks religion. The unprecedented attack shocked France and there has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity worldwide.Images of heavily armed Swat teams mobilising in Paris were broadcast live.Reports suggest the hostage-taker in eastern Paris – said to have taken up to five people prisoner – is connected to the Charlie Hebdo attackers.The Charlie Hebdo attackers, said to be two brothers linked by intelligence officials to militant groups, shouted Islamist slogans during the shooting and then fled Paris in a hijacked car, heading north.Shots were fired during a high-speed car chase earlier on Friday.It appears that on Friday the suspects hijacked another car in the town of Montagny-Sainte-Felicite before travelling on to Dammartin.The car’s owner is said to have recognised them as brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, the key suspects.

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