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Police search for two brothers in massive French manhunt on mourning day Police search for two brothers in massive French manhunt on mourning day
(about 2 hours later)
PARIS — Police hunted Thursday for two heavily armed brothers, one with confirmed jihadist links, who they warned could be planning another terrorist attack after bursting into a satirical newspaper’s offices yesterday and spraying the staff with gunfire, killing 12 people. PARIS — The massive hunt after France’s worst terrorist attack in generations broadened on two fronts Thursday: Chasing reports the heavily armed suspects were spotted on the move, and arresting others for questioning others amid fears more attacks could be planned.
French media reported the fugitive brothers, who were armed, were spotted at a gas station by an employee in northern France on Thursday morning. A day after massacre of a dozen people at a satirical newspaper, France’s capital was a mix of mourning, anger and hair-trigger tensions — raised even further after the slaying of a policewoman in a Paris suburb.
Authorities said there was no immediate information to link the police shooting with Wednesday’s attack at the newspaper Charlie Hebdo, whose well-known editor was among those slain in apparent retribution for the weekly’s provocative cartoons and content on Islam.
But it put in sharp relief one of the main concerns among France’s shaken leaders: That the violence may not be over.
France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said at least seven people had been arrested as the manhunt fanned out across Paris and its suburbs. Cazeneuve gave no details on the detainees or any possible connection to the main suspects in Wednesday’s raid: the brothers Said and Chérif Kouachi, 34 and 32.
Cherif Kouachi has a history of funneling jihadist fighters to Iraq and a terrorism conviction from 2008, police said.
The arrests, however, came hours before French Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France said “a main concern” was whether the brothers — or possibly others — could carry out another attack.
“There is no such thing as zero risk,” Valls told RTL radio.
Police, meanwhile, followed a tip that the brothers had left Paris.
French media reported they were spotted at a gas station by an employee in northern France on Thursday morning.
The manager of a gas station near Villers-Cotteret in the northern French Aisne region “recognized the two men suspected of having participated in the attack against Charlie Hebdo,” Agence France Presse reported, citing the newspaper’s name and quoting sources.The manager of a gas station near Villers-Cotteret in the northern French Aisne region “recognized the two men suspected of having participated in the attack against Charlie Hebdo,” Agence France Presse reported, citing the newspaper’s name and quoting sources.
Police issued photos of the brothers they were still desperately hunting 24 hours after the attack, pleading for the public’s help in finding them. One of the suspects, Cherif Kouachi, has a history of funneling jihadist fighters to Iraq and a terrorism conviction from 2008, police said in a bulletin early Thursday. A third suspect, Hamyd Mourad, 18, turned himself in at a police station in Charleville-Mézières, about 145 miles northeast of Paris. News reports said Mourad claimed to have an alibi, but it was unclear whether authorities still believed he had a link to the newspaper attack.
The bells at Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral tolled at noon to mark a minute of silence during a national day of mourning called for the worst terrorist attack in modern French history. French President Francois Hollande called it “an exceptional act of barbarism.” Paris prosecutors said they received an unexpected break in the case early: finding the national identity card of Said Kouachi in an abandoned getaway car, media reports said.
France raised its terror alert to the maximum level, mobilizing teams on foot, by air and in vehicles seeking out the three masked assailants, who carried out the assault shouting the Arabic call of “Allahu Akbar” or “God is great” amid the gunfire, according to video posted by France’s state-run broadcaster. They bolstered security with more than 800 extra soldiers to guard media offices, places of worship, transport and other sensitive areas. In Paris, the bells at the Notre Dame cathedral tolled at noon to mark a minute of silence during a national day of mourning called for the worst terrorist attack in modern French history.
According to police and other officials, two of the suspects are French brothers in their early 30s, Said and Cherif Kouachi. Both are from the Paris region. The third was 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad from Reims. French President Francois Hollande called it “an exceptional act of barbarism.”
Hamyd, however, surrendered at a police station in a small town in eastern France with an alibi after hearing his name was linked to the attacks on social media, news reports said. “France has been struck directly in the heart of its capital, in a place where the spirit of liberty — and thus of resistance — breathed freely,” Hollande said Thursday.
Tensions in Paris were high. France’s top security official abandoned a top-level meeting after just 10 minutes to rush to an as yet unexplained morning shooting on Paris’ southern edge in which at least one police officer was killed and another person wounded, news reports said. Wednesday’s attack unfolded with chilling precision as hooded gunmen speaking fluent French burst into the newspaper’s weekly staff meeting and sprayed the room with gunfire, leaving behind what one witness described as “absolute carnage.”
It was not immediately clear if Thursday’s shooting, during which a man appeared from a side street at an accident scene and then started shooting at police there with an automatic weapon, was linked to Wednesday’s attack, which left two police among the dozen dead. The death toll included 10 members of the staff, led by 47-year-old editor Stephane Charbonnier, and two police officers.
Wednesday’s attack unfolded with chilling precision as gunmen speaking fluent French burst into the newspaper’s weekly staff meeting and sprayed the room with gunfire, leaving behind what one witness described as “absolute carnage.” After shooting dead their final victim, the killers calmly fled the scene, sparking a massive dragnet and raising France’s security alert to its highest level.
The assault claimed a dozen lives, including the provocative paper’s well-known editor and two police officers, while traumatizing a nation that had long feared such an assault but was nonetheless shocked by the ferocity and military-style professionalism with which it was carried out.
The weekly newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, announced Thursday that it would publish next week as normal.
After shooting dead their final victim, the exultant killers calmly fled the scene, sparking a manhunt that extended across this capital city and deep into its suburbs.
The mass killing added Paris to a list of European capitals, including London and Madrid, that have experienced major terrorist attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.The mass killing added Paris to a list of European capitals, including London and Madrid, that have experienced major terrorist attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The assault came at a time of heightened anxiety across Europe about the threat of radical Islamist groups as thousands of young men and women from across the continent have poured into Syria to join the fight there. Many have come home radicalized by the experience.The assault came at a time of heightened anxiety across Europe about the threat of radical Islamist groups as thousands of young men and women from across the continent have poured into Syria to join the fight there. Many have come home radicalized by the experience.
There was no immediate indication that any of the assailants had battlefield experience. But experts said the men were well prepared for their mission. It also touched one of the most sensitive fault lines in France: Those cherishing the country’s secular traditions and freedoms, and some member’s of Europe’s largest Muslim population that resist or resent Western-style openness.
“Journalists and police officers have been assassinated in cowardly fashion,” French President Hollande said after visiting the scene. “France is in a state of shock.” The weekly newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, announced Thursday that it would publish next week as normal.
The attack coincided with a staff meeting at the weekly newspaper and left its well-known editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, and other prominent cartoonists among the dead. [What is Charlie Hebdo?]
Read: What is Charlie Hebdo?]
Edouard Perrin, a former writer for the newspaper who was in the office across the hall at the time of the attack, said he took cover when the shooting started and was among the first to enter after the killers fled.
“When we got inside, it was an absolute carnage, in the proper sense of the word,” he said.
In addition to the dead, he said, “there were survivors. We carried out CPR on them. I touched one person lying on the ground. The body had no pulse.”
Later, at the sealed offices and on nearby streets, forensic experts looked for DNA or other possible clues to aid in the rapidly expanding hunt. Others pored over security-camera video and cellphone images posted online.
Across Paris, meanwhile, security patrols were stepped up at media outlets, transportation hubs and other key sites.
The attack is likely to raise calls for tougher crackdowns on suspected extremists in a country that has faced decades of internal tensions over its Muslim population, which at 5 million is the largest in Europe.
In recent years, France has thrust itself to center stage in the war against Islamist extremism. In 2013, French forces joined those loyal to Mali’s government to push back an onslaught by Islamist militants. France was also the first nation to join the U.S.-led effort against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, conducting bombing raids.In recent years, France has thrust itself to center stage in the war against Islamist extremism. In 2013, French forces joined those loyal to Mali’s government to push back an onslaught by Islamist militants. France was also the first nation to join the U.S.-led effort against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, conducting bombing raids.
In just the past several weeks, France has been particularly on edge. Before Christmas, a man yelling “God is great” in Arabic was shot after stabbing three police officers in a suburb of Tours in central France.In just the past several weeks, France has been particularly on edge. Before Christmas, a man yelling “God is great” in Arabic was shot after stabbing three police officers in a suburb of Tours in central France.
Also, 23 people were injured in Nantes and Dijon after men, in two separate incidents, drove vehicles into crowds. French officials deployed between 200 and 300 more military personnel on the streets last week, in addition to 780 already on the ground.Also, 23 people were injured in Nantes and Dijon after men, in two separate incidents, drove vehicles into crowds. French officials deployed between 200 and 300 more military personnel on the streets last week, in addition to 780 already on the ground.
But the mood in Paris on Wednesday was less angry and fearful than mournful and resolved. Just hours after the attack Wednesday, a somber crowd of thousands of Parisians converged on the Place de la Republique to show solidarity with the attack’s victims. Many bore handmade signs with the words “Je suis Charlie” — “I am Charlie” — and mourners spelled out the words in votive candles. The crowd periodically broke out in rhythmic chants of “Charlie!” — but was otherwise largely silent.
As dusk fell, a somber crowd of thousands of Parisians converged on the Place de la Republique to show solidarity with the attack’s victims. Many bore handmade signs with the words “Je suis Charlie” — “I am Charlie” — and mourners spelled out the words in votive candles. The crowd periodically broke out in rhythmic chants of “Charlie!” — but was otherwise largely silent.
“Charlie is exactly what France needs. They make us laugh and they make us think,” said Dominique Ragu, a cartographer who came to the rally with her daughter and father. “This was an attack on freedom of expression. It was an attack on humor.”“Charlie is exactly what France needs. They make us laugh and they make us think,” said Dominique Ragu, a cartographer who came to the rally with her daughter and father. “This was an attack on freedom of expression. It was an attack on humor.”
[See: How cartoonists reacted to the Charlie Hebdo massacre.][See: How cartoonists reacted to the Charlie Hebdo massacre.]
The attack targeted the newspaper’s most prominent figures.
Christophe Crepin, a police union spokesman, said the dead include 10 members of the newspaper staff, among them the 47-year-old Charbonnier, who was widely known by the pen name Charb.
Other noted staff members killed included economic-affairs columnist Bernard Maris, 68, and renowned cartoonist Jean Cabut, 76, widely known as Cabu.
Two police officers also were killed, including one assigned as the editor’s bodyguard. The other, who encountered the gunmen as they fled, was shot in the head as he writhed wounded on the ground, Crepin said.
At least 20 other people were injured, including four listed in critical condition, police said.
Only hours before the attack, Charlie Hebdo’s Twitter account carried a cartoon titled “Still No Attacks in France” showing Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi giving a new year’s greeting.
“Just wait,” a fighter says in the drawing. “We have until the end of January to present our New Year’s wishes.”
Daniela Deane reported from London; Faiola reported from Berlin. Virgile Demoustier in Paris, Karla Adam in London, Souad Mekhennet in Frankfurt, Germany, and Brian Murphy, William Branigin, Katie Zezima and Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report.Daniela Deane reported from London; Faiola reported from Berlin. Virgile Demoustier in Paris, Karla Adam in London, Souad Mekhennet in Frankfurt, Germany, and Brian Murphy, William Branigin, Katie Zezima and Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report.