brothers suspected in the Charlie Hebdo newspaper attack are cornered
inside a printing house northeast of Paris, taking at least one hostage
and telling police they "want to die as martyrs," a lawmaker said.
Meanwhile, a gunman, who police believe is linked to the newsroom
massacre Wednesday, has also taken hostages, at a kosher market in
eastern Paris. He's a suspect in the killing Thursday of a policewoman
and has been linked to the two brothers in the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
Early Friday, Security forces streamed into the small industrial town
near Charles deGaulle airport in a massive operation to seize the two
men at the printing house suspected of carrying out France's deadliest
terror attack in decades. One of the men had been convicted of terrorism
charges in 2008, the other had visited Yemen and a U.S. official said
both brothers were on the American no-fly list.
Authorities evacuated a nearby school around midday Friday after the
suspects agreed by phone to allow the children safe passage,
Dammartin-en-Goele spokeswoman Audrey Taupenas told The Associated
Press.
"They said they want to die as martyrs," Yves Albarello, a local
lawmaker who said he was inside the command post, told French television
station i-Tele.
The men, Cherif and Said Kouachi, are believed to be the masked
assailants who methodically opened fire on an editorial meeting of the
satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, leaving 12 people dead in central
Paris on Wednesday.
As at least three helicopters hovered, Charles deGaulle closed two
runways to arrivals to avoid interfering in the standoff, an airport
spokesman said. The town appealed to residents to stay inside.
military helicopter flies over Dammartin-en-Goele on Friday as security
forces moved in to capture a pair of heavily armed suspects wanted for
the deadly attack on a satirical newspaper. (Thibault Camus/Associated
Press)
Tens of thousands of French security forces have mobilized to prevent
a new terror attack since the Wednesday assault on Charlie Hebdo, which
decimated the editorial staff, including the chief editor who had been
under armed guard after receiving death threats for publishing
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. He and his police bodyguard were
the first to die, witnesses have said.
Cherif and Said Kouachi were named as the chief suspects after Said's
identity card was left behind in their abandoned getaway car. They were
holed up Friday inside CTF Creation TendanceDecouverte, a printing
house. Xavier Castaing, the chief Paris police spokesman, and Taupenas.
They said there appeared to be one hostage.
photo provided by The Paris Police Prefectureon Thursday shows the
suspects Cherif Kouachi, left, and his brother Said. (Prefecture de
Police de Paris/The Associated Press)
"We heard shots and we returned very fast because everyone was
afraid," she told i-Tele. "We had orders to turn off the lights and not
approach the windows."
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said both suspects had been known to intelligence services before the attack.
Kosher market hostage taking
Also Friday, police said the gunman who took hostages atthe kosher market in eastern Paris, near Porte de Vincennes metro
station said the man opened fire in the market and declared "you know
who I am."
One person was seriously wounded in the hostage-taking incident, a
police union source told Reuters. The interior ministry denied press
reports that two people had been killed. Police sources said one person
was injured after being shot.
The gunman is also reported to be the same person who shot and killed
a female police officer on Thursday. Police SWAT personnel are on the
scene.
Paris police released a photo of Amedy Coulibaly as a suspect in the
killing Thursday of a policewoman, and the official named him as the man
holed up in the market. He said a second suspect, a woman named Hayet
Boumddiene, is the gunman's accomplice.
- CBC News
No comments:
Post a Comment