Hostage deaths as two French sieges end

Brothers thought to be behind attack on satirical magazine killed by police, along with gunman at grocery store siege.

 

Friday's events followed a nationwide manhunt after 12 people were killed at the office of a satirical magazine [AFP]

Two suspects believed to have been involved in Wednesday's attack on a satirical magazine's office have been killed northeast of Paris, while a gunman who took several hostages at a supermarket in the east of the capital is also dead.
At least four hostages held at the kosher grocery store in Porte De Vincennes also died on Friday as police stormed the site, it was unclear who had killed them.
Police said that the grocery store gunman had threatened to kill the hostages if police launched an assault on two brothers holed up in Dammartin-en-Goele who were suspected to be behind the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris.
The brothers - identified as 32-year-old Said Kouachi and 34-year-old Cherif Kouachi - died in a simultaneous operation in the French town, where they had been cornered by police inside a printing house after taking a hostage. The hostage was unharmed.
Police say the brothers came out of their hideaway with guns blazing, and were killed in a shootout.
Officers earlier reported the brothers as saying they wanted to "die as martyrs".
Grocery suspect
Earlier on Friday, police said that a man named Amedy Coulibaly was the primary suspect in the kosher store siege. His girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene was also named as a wanted suspect and accomplice.
Police said that Coulibaly had links with one of the Kouachi brothers. Meanwhile, Said Kouachi was believed to be trained by the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula armed group, which operates in Yemen.
Coulibaly is also suspected of being the same gunman who killed a policewoman in a shooting in Mountrouge in southern Paris on Thursday.
The dramatic events on Friday followed a nationwide manhunt after 12 people were killed when masked gunmen attacked the office of  Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday.

---

Events leading to the Dammartin En Goele siege

• After the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office on Wednesday, the two gunmen were at-large for almost 24 hours until they were first spotted outside Paris on Thursday.
• The owner of a petrol station in Villers-Cotterets called the police, claiming to have been robbed by the two suspects at around 9:30 GMT. The men reportedly stole petrol and food. 
• Almost 24 hours later on Friday, reports came in of a gunfight with police, north of Paris, in Seine-et-Marne, near Dammartin-en-Goele.
• Police chased the vehicle which they believe the Kouachi brothers hijacked from a woman. The chase ended in the industrial area of Dammartin-en-Goele.
• A hostage was taken by the gunmen, starting the seige that lasted hours. 
• The suspects were then surrounded, holed up in a print shop. Later on Friday, police stormed in using automatic weapons and what sounded like stun grenades. 
• The two brothers were killed in the raid.