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Charlie Hebdo suspects and third gunman killed in twin police raids Charlie Hebdo shooting suspects and third gunman killed in twin police raids
(about 4 hours later)
Heavily armed French Swat teams killed all three gunmen behind Wednesday’s massacre at the magazine Charlie Hebdo and Thursday’s murder of a young policewoman in two near-simultaneous assaults as dusk fell on Friday. In two ferocious, near simultaneous assaults as dusk fell, heavily armed French elite forces shot dead the two gunmen behind Wednesday’s massacre at Charlie Hebdo and a third member of the terror cell wanted for Thursday’s murder of a young policewoman.
The safe release of some of the hostages in “difficult and oppressive circumstances” was praised by the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve. But while all the gunmen’s remaining hostages were freed unharmed, any relief felt was marred by the news that Amedy Coulibaly, suspected of killing police officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe in Montrouge on Thursday, had shot and killed four shoppers in the Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris that he stormed at about 1pm on Friday.
However, any relief felt was marred by reports that Amedy Coulibaly, suspected of killing policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe in Montrouge on Thursday, had earlier shot and killed four shoppers in the Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris that he stormed at about 1pm on Friday. At a small printing company in Dammartin-en-Goële, 25 miles north-east of the French capital, police shot dead Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, responsible for the cold-blooded killing of 12 people – including two policemen – at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s Paris offices.
At a small printing company in Dammartin-en-Goële, 25 miles north-east of the French capital, police also shot dead Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, responsible for the cold-blooded killing of 12 people – including two policemen – at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris. The bloody climax to the unprecedented double hostage-taking brought to an end two days of drama and uncertainty that began on Wednesday morning when the Kouachi brothers burst into the Charlie Hebdo offices.
French media reported that the two brothers had come out shooting from the warehouse where they had been surrounded since early morning. The local MP had earlier told iTele that they had told negotiators they wanted “to die as martyrs”. In the aftermath of the deadliest terror attack on French soil in half a century, BFM TV revealed on Friday night that it had been in telephone contact with Chérif Kouachi from inside the printing factory earlier in the day. In a calm, assured voice, the gunman could be heard telling the station he had been sent “by al-Qaida Yemen”.
Remarkably, a company employee managed to hide from the two gunmen throughout the day under a cardboard box, BFM TV reported, and escaped unharmed. On Friday night a member of al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen claimed that the group directed the attack against Charlie Hebdo “as revenge for the honour” of the prophet Muhammad.
At least two police officers were reportedly injured during the two raids, while a fourth, unidentified man – thought to be an accomplice of Coulilaby – was also reported to have died at the kosher store at the Porte de Vincennes. Saying it had not released the tapes earlier to avoid compromising the police operations, BFM TV also replayed a conversation it had with Coulibaly in which he said the two attacks against Charlie Hebdo and the Montrouge police officer had been synchronised.
The siege at Dammartin-en-Goële unfolded after a shootout on Friday morning between the Kouachi brothers and police at a roadblock about half an hour by car from the large wooded area where the gunmen are thought to have hidden on Thursday night. He said he had targeted the Paris shop “because it was Jewish”, that he was holding 16 hostages, and that four people had died when he entered the supermarket. He also claimed to be a member of Islamic State (Isis).
The two men were apparently heading back towards the capital after abandoning the Renault Clio they had been travelling in at the village of Montagny-Sainte-Félicité, where they hijacked a grey Peugeot 206. After the shootout they made for the printworks in Dammartin-en-Goële. Agence France-Presse said the brothers had come out shooting from the printer’s warehouse where they had been surrounded since early morning. The local MP had earlier told iTele that they had told negotiators they wanted “to die as martyrs”.
A witness interviewed by France Info radio said he alerted police after seeing the Kouachi brothers, who were on the premises of Création Tendance Découverte (CDT), when he arrived. Remarkably, a company employee managed to hide from the two gunmen throughout the day under a cardboard box, media reported, escaping unharmed after being able to speak to police on the phone and explain the layout of the warehouse.
“My client came to the door,” the witness, Didier, told the station. “I shook his hand, and the hand of one of the terrorists. They said: ‘It’s the police. Get out. In any case we don’t kill civilians.’” But four people, apparently police officers, were injured in the raids, while a fourth, unidentified man – thought to be an accomplice of Coulibaly – also died at the kosher store at the Porte de Vincennes. Citing reliable police and judicial sources, French media reported that police timed their raid on the supermarket as Coulibaly was at prayer: he reportedly used the store’s phone and failed to hang up.
Didier said he had not recognised the men and thought at first they were police officers. He said: “They were dressed like special forces, black uniform, bullet-proof vests … heavily armed, Kalashnikov-type rifles. If he hadn’t said, ‘We don’t kill civilians,’ it could have been the police.” At the end of an extraordinary day that swung wildly between the two separate incidents, François Hollande described the past three days’ events as “a tragedy for the nation”. The French president saluted the “courage, flair, and efficacy of the gendarmes, the policemen, everyone who took part. I am proud of them,” and said France “has not finished with these threats. I call for vigilance, unity and mobilisation.”
With Dammartin-en-Goële put on lockdown by police, another police operation began in the east of Paris after Coulibaly took multiple hostages at a kosher supermarket at the Porte de Vincennes. Earlier, in a highly unusual step, the French president met the far-right Front National leader Marine Le Pen at the Elysée Palace, while France prepared for a “Republican march” on Sunday which David Cameron and his German, Spanish and Italian counterparts, Angela Merkel, Mariano Rajoy and Matteo Renzi, were due to attend.
Helmeted Swat squads, police and helicopters surrounded the supermarket. Shops, schools and roads in the area were locked down at about midday as police officers entered a standoff with the gunman, who was described by a police source to Le Figaro as “extremely dangerous” and equipped with two assault rifles. The Charlie Hebdo bloodbath prompted a global outpouring of outrage, with tens of thousands of people thronging to rallies in support of press freedom under the slogan “jesuischarlie” (“I am Charlie”). Barack Obama was the latest to sign a book of condolence in Washington, inscribing “Vive la France!” while in Paris, thousands had gathered on a day of national mourning and the Eiffel Tower dimmed its lights to honour the dead.
According to reports in the French media, the denouement of the two hostage situations in Paris happened after French security forces crept into position on the roof of the printworks moments before opening bursts of gunfire. The magazine’s surviving staff, who have moved into the offices of the daily paper Libération, plan a special edition of one million copies on Wednesday.
The two suspects reportedly launched an audacious escape bid, charging out of the building firing at the security forces before being cut down in their tracks. A wanted notice naming Coulibaly as a suspect in the Montrouge shooting also said police were hunting for a woman, Hayat Boumeddiene, reportedly the gunman’s former girlfriend.
Moments later, armed police launched an assault on the kosher restaurant in east Paris, using flashbangs and assault rifles to force entry. It was unclear on Friday night whether or not she was also involved in the supermarket hostage-taking.
Cazeneuve thanked all of the security forces and police who made the liberation of hostages possible. The safety of hostages “was kept under difficult and oppressive circumstances” while the risks were high, he said. They were “professional and courageous”. Questions were being asked about how three men with known jihadi links had been able to carry out the attacks. Chérif Kouachi, 32, was jailed for 18 months for his role in a network sending volunteers to fight alongside al-Qaida in Iraq between 2003 and 2005.
“We remain extraordinarily mobilised to ensure the safety of all French people in the French nation,” he added. According to L’Obs newsweekly, Coulibaly, 32, who had a list of convictions for theft and drug offences, was “very close” to Chérif.
Twelve people were shot dead and 11 injured in Wednesday’s attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo, the worst terror attack in France for decades. Both were also investigated in June 2010 on suspicion of being implicated in a plot to break a militant leader out of jail.
At Dammartin, a witness interviewed by France Info radio said he had alerted police after seeing the Kouachi brothers, who were inside the print company, Création Tendance Découverte (CDT), as he arrived at the building.
“My client came to the door,” the witness, Didier, said. “I shook his hand, and the hand of one of the terrorists. They said: ‘It’s the police. Get out.’ ” He had not recognised the men and thought they were police officers, until one said: “We don’t kill civilians, anyway.”
About 1,000 children were evacuated from Dammartin’s schools and local hospitals were placed on alert. Swat teams deployed snipers on roofs and half a dozen helicopters buzzed low over the town.
One resident, Grégory, told BFMTV by telephone: “Everyone here is blocked in their homes. There are four or five helicopters flying overhead and an extraordinary number of police and gendarmes.”
At Porte de Vincennes, the entire area was swamped with police who shut down the main Paris ringroad, as well as schools and shops in the area. Authorities ordered all residents to stay indoors.
The spectacular attacks came as it emerged that the brothers had been on a US terror watch list “for years”.
The head of MI5 said Islamist militants were planning other “mass casualty attacks against the west” and that intelligence services might be powerless to stop them.