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Charlie Hebdo attack: 'Police operation underway' in village north-east of Paris in hunt for two suspects Charlie Hebdo attack: Hundreds of elite armed police comb woodland in hunt for two suspects
(about 2 hours later)
Hundreds of elite police officers combed fields and woodland in northern France today for two Franco-Algerian brothers sought for the murderous attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo. The vast manhunt for the two brothers wanted for the murderous attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine appeared to have entered its decisive phase last night after the men fled into the French countryside.
As Puma helicopters flew overhead, the heavily armed officers mounted road blocks and scoured the countryside in an area ten by twelves miles square around the small town of Crépy en Valois, 60 miles north east of Paris. Hundreds of elite armed police were combing woodland and fields outside a small town 60 miles north east of Paris as military helicopters circled overhead in an operation to pinpoint suspected mass killers Cherif and Said Kouachi.
After nearly 24 hours without a confirmed sighting of the brothers following the assault in central Paris which left 12 dead, the biggest counter-terrorism operation in recent French history moved its focus to the 5,000-strong community of Crepy en Valois after the brothers broke cover and held up a petrol station on one of the main routes from the capital.
Staff at the Avia service stop in Villers Cotterets in the Aisne region reported seeing rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles in the back of the Kouachis’ stolen grey Renault Clio as they were forced to fill its tank at gunpoint at about 10.30am (9.30am).
The pair are thought to be in Crépy-en-Valois (Graphic by John Bradley)The pair are thought to be in Crépy-en-Valois (Graphic by John Bradley)
After searching the villages of Corcy and Longpont house by house, the elite police and gendarmerie teams, equipped with helmets and shields, moved into a nearby forest. One resident said it appeared that police believed the men may fled into the nearby Foret de Retz - a vast woodland measuring 13,000 hectares. A homeowner, who like hundreds of other residents had been ordered by police to stay inside and lock all doors, said: “The police arrived at 5pm and ordered us to stay indoors, lock up and close the shutters. I’m a bundle of nerves.”
One local resident said: "The police arrive at 5pm and ordered us to stay indoors, lock up and close the shutters. I'm a bundle of nerves." The potential endgame to the Charlie Hebdo shooting came as France suffered a second day of terrorist bloodshed as it entered three days of national mourning for the atrocity which left dead eight journalists at the satirical weekly, including its editor, and two police officers.
Earlier two men resembling  Chérif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, held up a petrol filling station at gunpoint close to the town. The brothers are believed responsible for the gun assault on Wednesday which killed 12 people at the satircal magazine, known for lampooning radical Islam.
Heavy weapons, including assault rifles and grenade launcgers were seen in their light grey Renault Clio car – apparently the same vehicle hijacked by gunmen after Wednesday’s killings. The men, wearing masks, ordered staff to fill up their car at gunpoint.
Le GIPN fouille le village. pic.twitter.com/xLHbzUwRj8Le GIPN fouille le village. pic.twitter.com/xLHbzUwRj8
Initially the suspected terrorists were reported to be heading down the N2 trunk road towards Paris. Armed police were sent to guard all the northen entrances to the city. A female police officer suffered fatal injuries when a gunman, wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a pistol and an automatic weapon, opened fire on her and a colleague in Montrouge, a southern suburb of Paris, shortly before 9am (8am GMT) before fleeing on foot.
Later, however, police said that the two men had abandoned their car and were thought to have fled into woodland on foot. All local people were advised to stay indoors. The French authorities said the shooting was being treated as a “terrorist act” but no formal link had been identified with the Charlie Hebdo killings. The second officer was seriously injured. Two people were last night being held in connection with the incident.
Armed police were also seen going from door-to-door questioning residents and stopping cars on the roads of the tiny village of Corcy.
Helicopters and police units of France’s two elite police squads – the Raid and the GIGN – were deployed to the area earlier this afternoon after the hold-up of the petrol station.
Fouille des maisons chasse à l'homme #CharlieHebdo #JeSuisCharlie @ParisMatch pic.twitter.com/k0Oq5ytB24Fouille des maisons chasse à l'homme #CharlieHebdo #JeSuisCharlie @ParisMatch pic.twitter.com/k0Oq5ytB24
An employee in the petrol station told the AFP news agency that he recognised the men as they ordered him to fill up a light grey Renault Clio, possibly the same vehicle that they hijacked after yesterday’s killings. Several shots were fired. The suspected copycat attack came as France came to a standstill to observe a minute’s silence at midday and the bells of Notre Dame in Paris tolled in memory of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo killing.
A third man, earlier named as a suspect by police, handed himself in late last night. The lights on the Eiffel Tower were last night dimmed and flags were flown at half-mast across the country as politicians praised the spirit of defiance which saw 100,000 people take to the streets of French cities on Wednesday night to reject the actions of the attackers with the message “Je Suis Charlie”.
But as the spirit of unity flourished, so too did the first signs of a backlash against France’s Muslim population, the largest in Europe, after at least five serious attacks aimed at mosques and businesses. Dummy grenades were thrown at a mosque overnight in Le Mans, western France, and a Muslim family were shot at in the car in the Vaucluse region of southern France.
The Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the “real France” was in the dignity and defiance of the demonstrations not in these scattered acts of anti-Muslim violence.
Cherif and Said Kouachi, reportedly 32 and 34Cherif and Said Kouachi, reportedly 32 and 34
Seven other individuals arrested overnight are thought to be associates or family of the suspects and were detained in the towns of Reims and Charleville-Mezieres, as well as in the Paris area. “This is a time when the nation should be saying ‘no” to sweeping statements, ‘no’ to intolerance, ‘no’ to hatred and ‘no”  to the kind of comments which traumatise the country,” Mr Valls told RTL radio.
Hamyd Mourad, 18, from the town of Charleville Mézières on the Belgian border, surrendered to police after seeing his name on social media yesterday. “France is more than (the novelist)_Michel Houellebecq,” he said -  a reference book published on the day of the Charlie Henbdo shootings in which Houellebecq speculates about a  muslim-run France in 2022. 
Mr Mourad claims he was attending school at 11.30am yesterday when the attacks took place. Since he handed himself in, people purporting to be Mr Mourad's classmates are insisting that he was in school, with many using the hashtag #HamydMouradInnocent. The lawyer for Charlie Hebdo, known for its lampooning of radical Islam and the subject of previous attacks by extremists including a firebombing in 2011, said hat its next edition would go ahead on 14 January. Rather than its usual print run of 40,000 copies it will produce one million. The former mayor of Paris, Betrand Delanie, urged people to buy a copy as a gesture of defiance. Other French newspapers promised to help the decimated Charlie Hebdo staff produfce the magazine.
An unidentified man is detained in ReimsAn unidentified man is detained in Reims
News of the arrests came as a female police officer was shot dead in a southern Paris suburb this morning. Officers claim it is too early to say whether the shooting was connected to yesterday's massacre. After a night in which the trail of the Cherif, 32, and 34-year-old Said appeared to have gone cold despite a number of raids in the eastern city of Reims where one of the men lived, the manhunt recommenced in a dramatic manner after the brothers pulled off the RN2 road from Paris to Soissons to rob food and petrol from the Avia filling station.
Sky News reports claim among the recently arrested in relation to yesterday's attack is the brother-in-law of one of the two suspected gunmen. The manager reported seeing a formidable arsenal in the rear of the Clio, which was hijacked from its driver in north east Paris after the men abandoned their initial getaway vehicle - a Citroen C3 used to flee from the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
Reports that the Clio was then seen heading back in the direction of Paris led to a flurry of activity in the capital as police vehicles were stationed at the northern entrances to Paris to monitor traffic entering the city.
Police sources last night cast further light on the level of preparation and the motivation of the brothers after revealing that they had left 10 Molotov cocktails in the black C3 along with a black jihadist flag and headscarf, a magnetic rooftop emergency services light and an identity card. Reports that the flag was the banner of Islamic State were later denied.
The existence of a claimed third suspect in the Charlie Hebdo killings last night remained unclear after the 18-year-old brother in law of Cherif Kouachi surrendered himself voluntarily to police, claiming he had been in school at the time of the attack.
Hamyd Mourad handed himself in on Wednesday night after seeing his name circulating on social media. He last night remained in custody, although initial reports suggested his alibi that he had been attending lessons had been confirmed. The French Interior Ministry said last night a total of nine people have been detained in relation to the killings.
The brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi are said to be “armed and dangerous”.The brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi are said to be “armed and dangerous”.
Chérif, 32, was already known to security officials for a previous terror conviction.Chérif, 32, was already known to security officials for a previous terror conviction.
He was jailed in 2008 for three years for seeking to join extremists in Iraq as part of a jihadist group which appeared to offer instruction in how to fire the Kalashnikov rifle – the weapon used in the Charlie Hebdo attack.He was jailed in 2008 for three years for seeking to join extremists in Iraq as part of a jihadist group which appeared to offer instruction in how to fire the Kalashnikov rifle – the weapon used in the Charlie Hebdo attack.
The two brothers suspected of the attack are believed to be orphans of Algerian descent, raised in the city of Rennes in north west France.The two brothers suspected of the attack are believed to be orphans of Algerian descent, raised in the city of Rennes in north west France.
One of the brothers' ID cards has reportedly been discovered in an abandoned getaway car used by the two, French website Le Point reported.One of the brothers' ID cards has reportedly been discovered in an abandoned getaway car used by the two, French website Le Point reported.
Police have cordoned off a block of flats where one of the brothers was believed to have been living with his partner,
France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls told RTL radio early this morning the two men were known to intelligence services and the fear that they could carry out another attack "is our main concern."France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls told RTL radio early this morning the two men were known to intelligence services and the fear that they could carry out another attack "is our main concern."
A bullet impact is seen in a window of a building next to the French satirical magazine Bystanders told The Times that the gunmen told them they were from al-Qaeda in Yemen, also known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).A bullet impact is seen in a window of a building next to the French satirical magazine Bystanders told The Times that the gunmen told them they were from al-Qaeda in Yemen, also known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The murder of nine journalists, two police officers and a maintenance man by masked men has shocked France. Around 11.30am two men forcibly entered the offices of the satirical magazine, where a weekly editorial meeting was taking place, and after compelling the journalists to identify themselves opened fire. They were late seen fleeing the building.The murder of nine journalists, two police officers and a maintenance man by masked men has shocked France. Around 11.30am two men forcibly entered the offices of the satirical magazine, where a weekly editorial meeting was taking place, and after compelling the journalists to identify themselves opened fire. They were late seen fleeing the building.
A minute’s silence will be observed at 12pm (local time) across the country and the bells of Notre Dame will toll. In the UK police officers across the country are expected to also observed a moment of silence at 10.30GMT.A minute’s silence will be observed at 12pm (local time) across the country and the bells of Notre Dame will toll. In the UK police officers across the country are expected to also observed a moment of silence at 10.30GMT.
Last night vigils were attended by thousands in Paris and hundreds in Berlin and London.Last night vigils were attended by thousands in Paris and hundreds in Berlin and London.
French President François Hollande called the massacre “an act of exceptional barbarism," as UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US president Barack Obama also condemned the actions of the attackers.French President François Hollande called the massacre “an act of exceptional barbarism," as UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US president Barack Obama also condemned the actions of the attackers.