The Parisian brothers suspected of the Charlie Hebdo massacre have been killed in a violent police raid on their compound in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, according to multiple reports.
Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, who had been on the run since the shooting at the magazine's offices on Wednesday, were killed when armed special forces stormed the building where they had held a hostage since early on Friday.
The three-day terror incident came to a dramatic end just before 5pm when armed officers raided the printing works on an industrial estate near Charles de Gaulle airport. The hostage was freed, according to multiple reports citing French officials.
Moments later, officers launched an assault on a Kosher supermarket in east Paris where another gunman took up to six people hostage earlier this afternoon.
That gunman was also killed when police stormed the supermarket, freeing the hostages, according to multiple reports.
The Paris siege began at around 9.30am today when there were reports of shots being fired and hostages taken in Dammartin-en-Goele, sparking a major operation involving Swat teams, military helicopters and armed counter-terror officers.
Earlier today, French police issued an appeal for two suspects linked to the killing of the policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe in Montrouge yesterday. It named them as Hayat Boumeddienne, 26, and Amedy Coulibaly, 32. Coulibaly was also linked by French media to the Kosher supermarket siege
Four people are critically wounded following the siege on the supermarket in Porte de Vincennes in Paris, says security source reported by AFP
French media are reporting that not all of the hostages in the kosher supermarket siege at the porte de Vincennes survived.
According to AFP, BFMTV and other sources there were a number of deaths among the hostages. It was not immediately clear if they died during the police raid or before it. AFP also reported that a number of other hostages were critically injured.
Reports of the deaths remain unconfirmed. French president François Hollande is due to address the nation at 8pm local time.
Earlier updates:
AFP is reporting that a source says the Charlie Hebdo suspects, the Kouachi brothers, have been killed. A source to AFP says that the Kouachi brothers "came out firing" on security forces.
Meanwhile police have been seen storming the Paris supermarket, with one woman seen leaving, AP reports. Women and children are believed to be among the hostages held inside the building. Several hostages at the supermarket in Paris have been freed, according to AFP.
The hostage-taker at the supermarket in eastern Paris is also reported dead by Le Monde newspaper.
AFP is reporting that the Kouachi brothers' hostage has been freed and is safe following a police assault on the warehouse in Dammartin.
Sky news are currently showing footage of gunshots and explosions at Dammartin-en-Goele
Smoke has also been seen coming from the building where the Charlie Hebdo suspects are holed up, Reuters reports.
Live TV footage from the scene shows smoke rising from the building after what appears to be another small explosion. At least two figures dressed in black are seen emerging on the rooftop of the building.
There were rounds of gunfire and several explosions heard at the printworks where the brothers have been holed up this afternoon. The gunfire came minutes after armed counter-terror officers were seen traveling towards the building.
There appears to be smoke coming from the printworks at Dammartin-en-Goele.
Sky News are reporting that just before the explosion special combat forces could be seen heading towards the printworks where the Kouachi brothers were holed up.
It now appears that the counter terrorist police initiated an assault on the building, and ambulances are driving to the scene.
Another round of small explosive blasts have been heard alongside bursts of gunfire in Dammartin-en-Goele, where the shooting began just before 4pm GMT. Explosive blasts are sometimes used in this situation to force entry to a building along with stun grenades to debilitate the hostage takers.
Journalist Peter Allen has just tweeted that heavily armed commandos currently on roof of building where Charlie Hebdo terrorists holed up with hostage.
Reuters had previously reported that French anti-terrorist forces surrounding a building where they believe two men suspected of attacking the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly are holed up want to start a dialogue and have not launched an assault, a French interior ministry spokesman said.
"The priority is to establish a dialogue," Pierre-Henry Brandet said in a message tweeted by the interior ministry.
"This can take a long time, hours and sometimes days," he added.
It is still as yet unclear if there is a link between the two hostage situations. However, French media is quoting police sources as saying that the hostage-taker at the supermarket in Porte de Vincennes is making demands for the release of the two suspects wanted over the Charlie Hebdo attack, who are still engaged in a tense stand-off with police in Dammartin-en-Goele.
Metro traffic around the Trocadero area has resumed after access to one of its subways was temporarily stopped, Le Monde reports. A police spokesperson tells the BBC that a possible incident reported at the Trocadero (near the Eiffel Tower in central Paris) is a false alarm.
AFP reports two killed in the siege in eastern Paris, citing a source
The attacker is reported to have told police "you know who I am" in an apparent reference to Thursday's shooting of a policewoman.
AFP is reporting that at least five hostages have been taken in the kosher supermarket at the Porte de Vincennes.
A witness to the second siege has told French media what he saw at the kosher supermarket siege.
"There was an individual - African - who had a Kalashnikov ... and he immediately went into the deli and he started shooting with his Kalashnikov," said the man, who gave his name as Fabian.
"The latest news is that sadly apparently there are two dead. What is for sure is that colleagues that are there already saw six hostages that were controlled by this individual."
The police have named two suspects wanted in connection with the second siege at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris.
They are Amedy Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene.
Police did not specify whether both were at the scene.
Paris police released a photo of Amedy Coulibaly as a suspect in the killing of a policewoman on Thursday. A police official named him as the man holed up in the market.
More details are emerging about Amedy Coulibaly who is believed to be holding up six people hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, after being named as suspect in the killing of a policewoman on Thursday.
He is 33 and from Juvisy-sur-Orge in Ile-de-France. According to Le Monde, Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were two of the most committed followers of convicted terrorist Djamel Beghal . Telephone conversations reveal that the pair visited Beghal's home in Murat in the south of France. Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, has been Coulibaly's partner since 2010 and lived in his home while he was serving a prison sentence, Le Monde said.
AP's source said some hostages have been gravely wounded. Earlier AFP said two people had been killed. Reuters said one person was seriously injured and six hostages have been taken.
Hayat Boumeddiene, who has just been named by the police as a suspect, is the former partner of Amedy Coulibaly who is reported to be holding hostages at the kosher supermarket siege, according to Le Monde.
The supermarket where the second siege is understood to be taking place is Rue Albert Willemetz, a side street off the main intersection of porte de Vincennes and Boulevard de la Peripherique.
From photos on Google maps, the supermarket appears to be a fairly nondescript one story dark grey building with Hyper Cacher - roughly translated as Super Kosher - emblazoned on the side of the building. It sits next to a petrol station and a deli and is located at the base of a tower block.
French media say a hostage has been taken at the Jewish shop at Porte de Vincennes in Paris. There are suggestions that the gunman may be the one who shot dead a policewoman on Thursday. Police are now evacuating the area.
Gun fire has been heard in a kosher bakery in porte de Vincennes, with employees and clients trapped in the basement, Le Point confirms . It also reports possible links with Thursday's shooting Montrouge.
Le Monde is reporting that the entire area is being evacuated by police.A lawyer in the area confirmed an evacuation has been ordered. Le Figaro reports that French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has gone to the porte de Vincennes.
The maintenance worker who was the first victim of the killers at Charlie Hebdo was shot dead on his first day working at the offices of the satirical magazine.
A friend told BFM TV news that Frédéric Boisseau, who was employed by facilities management company Sodexo, was standing in the reception area with a colleague when the Kalashnikov-toting killers burst into the building and asked for directions to Charlie Hebdo's offices. They shot him before heading for the magazine's office.
The French interior minister confirmed this morning that "important elements" had now been uncovered in the inquiry into another shooting which took place in Montrouge, just south of Paris, on Thursday January 8.
In the shooting, which happened less than 24 hours after the Charlie Hebdo attack, a 26-year-old police woman was killed. The heavily armed gunman, reported to be wearing a bullet-proof vest, fled by car and the hunt continues to find him.
Officials had initially suggested that there appeared to be no link with the Charlie Hebdo attack. But AFP now reports today, citing police sources, that a connection has indeed been established between the suspect in the Montrouge attack and the Kouachi brothers, the suspects behind the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
AFP reported that two arrests had been made, targeting people in the entourage of the Montrouge suspect. The suspect himself remains at large.
Audrey Taupenas, spokeswoman for the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, has told the Associated Press that officials have established phone contact with the suspects in order to negotiate the safe evacuation of a nearby school. She said the suspects had agreed.
A man whose grey Renault Clio was stolen at gunpoint by the suspects after the Charlie Hebdo shooting has been speaking to Europe 1. He said: The man was armed with a machine gun. I realised after that it was a Kalashnikov. I had my window open and he said to me: 'Get out of your car, we need your car.' I got out of the vehicle. At that moment a second person arrived who got into the passenger seat. He also had a gun with a kind of grenade at the end. It was undoubtedly a grenade launcher or something like that.
The man described the two men as being "very calm, very determined, very poised and very professional. Real commandos." He said: "He never raised his voice, they never ran, they never seemed agitated. They weren't sweating. Nothing at all like that. They gave the impression of being real operators. As they left they said to me: 'If the media ask you anything, tell them that it's Al-Qaida in Yemen.'
The man had his grey Clio stolen in the rue de Meaux in Paris' 19th arrondissement, near the porte de Pantin. The suspects then hijacked a grey Peugeot after abandoning the Clio, which reportedly had run out of petrol.
Both Xavier Castaing, the chief Paris police spokesman, and town hall spokeswoman Audrey Taupenas said there appeared to be one hostage inside the print workshop building. There have been unconfirmed media reports that the hostage involved in the siege is a woman.
Overturning previous reports, AFP sources have confirmed that Thursday's fatal shooting of a policewoman in southern Paris was linked to the police manhunt for the Kouachi brothers.
It quotes a police source as saying that the suspect in that shooting was connected to the brothers.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that police are moving journalists away from the industrial complex into the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, ahead of an expected statement.
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten says it will not republish Charlie Hebdo's cartoons about Islam because of security concerns.
The paper, which angered Muslims by publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad 10 years ago, said: "Concerns for employee safety are paramount. We are also aware that we therefore bow to violence and intimidation."
200 kids aged 3-10 locked inside Henry Dunant elementary school, 500 yards from siege. Teachers in the locked down primary schools in Dammartin are trying to reassure pupils by singing nursery rhymes, according to the Guardian's Kim Willsher.
Residents of Dammartin-en-Goele have been describing their fears.
Irène, 82, who lives in the road next to where the printing company is based, told Liberation: I saw a lot of police officers in the street so I switched on my television, and that's how I found out what was happening. The police officers did not come and see me, I did not get any specific information. I'm scared, I'm really scared. My blinds are open but I don't dare go near the window to shut them. All my children are calling me because they are scared for me. I can hear helicopters flying around but I can't hear gunshots.
One resident tweeted that he had been told to stay indoors.
France Info radio has obtained an extraordinary account from a salesman who said he shook one of the suspect's hands when they arrived at the printing business at 8.30am this morning, writesAngelique Chrisafis in Paris.
The man, who would only gave his name as Didier, said he had an appointment with Michel, the owner of the printing and publicity material business. Didier said he shook one of the gunmen's hands who he took to be police special operations officer. He was dressed in black and was heavily armed with at least one rifle.
He said when he arrived at the business his client came out to meet him with what he took to be a policeman, dressed in black combat gear, with a bullet-proof vest.
"We all shook hands and my client told me to leave." Didier added that the man he took to be the policeman said: "Go, we don't kill civilians". He added "I thought was strange."
He said: "As I left I didn't know what it was, it wasn't normal. I did not know what was going on. Was it a hostage taking or a burglary?"
French President Francois Hollande is now speaking at a meeting at the Interior Ministry. President Hollande admits that the authorities knew "attacks were possible". Mr Hollande stresses that security measures must be taken for the demonstrations and gatherings expected in France and that "all citizens are welcome". The French leader also says "we must act at the European level", confirming a meeting of interior ministers of the concerned countries on Sunday.
L'Obs newsweekly is reporting that accoridng to several sources, mobile phones are no longer working in Dammartin.
French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet, quoted by Reuters speaking to French TV channel iTele, says: "We are almost certain it is those two individuals holed up in that building."
Caoline Morais, who works in the mayor's office in the town, has told Le Monde: "We are trapped inside, everyone has been shut inside. We are a bit like you, we're following everything online."
Charles de Gaulle airport is partially closed as the operation in Dammartin-en-Goele, roughly 8 miles away, continues the Air News Agency reports.
Some reports suggest that runways have been closed while others say that flights are being turned away.
Flightradar24 says that all runways at CDG are open but northern runways are being used for take-off only. Two flights, AF47 and AF1695, were prevented from landing at Charles-de-Gaulle airport, according to reports.
Yves Albarello, UMP MP for Seine-et-Marne has told @itele: "the two fugitives declared they wanted to die as martyrs."
BBC reports: "It's a dramatic scene. The area around Dammartin is rapidly filling up with thousands of French police and anti-terror forces. Several puma helicopters are hovering over the area, hundreds of police cars and armoured vehicles have arrived."
In a separate development, French media reports say police have now identified the suspected killer of a policewoman in the Paris suburb of Montrouge on Thursday. The shooting is said to be unrelated to the Charlie Hebdo attack.
French security forces swarmed a small industrial town northeast of Paris Friday in an operation to capture a pair of heavily armed suspects in the deadly storming of a satirical newspaper.
Shots were fired as the brothers stole a car in the early morning hours, said a French security official, who could not immediately confirm reports of hostages taken or deaths later in the day in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Paris.
Thousands of French security forces have mobilized to find Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices on Wednesday that left 12 people dead.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed an operation was underway in Dammartin, speaking moments after an emergency meeting with the president, prime minister and top police official.
Hours earlier, according to a security official, the brothers stole a Peugeot amid gunfire in the town of Montagny Sainte Felicite, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Paris.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a situation that was still developing.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said both brothers were known to intelligence services.
One brother was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008. Survivors of the bloody assault on Charlie Hebdo said the attackers claimed allegiance to al-Qaida in Yemen. The weekly newspaper had been repeatedly threatened - and its offices were firebombed in 2011 - after spoofing Islam and depicting the Prophet Muhammad in caricature.
French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve addresses reporters at the end of a crisis meeting with French President Francois Hollande, at the Elysee Palace in Paris
Authorities around Europe have warned of the threat posed by the return of Western jihadis trained in warfare. France counts at least 1,200 citizens in the war zone in Syria - headed there, returned or dead. Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have threatened France - home to Western Europe's largest Muslim population.
The French suspect in a deadly 2014 attack on a Jewish museum in Belgium had returned from fighting with extremists in Syria; and the man who rampaged in southern France in 2012, killing three soldiers and four people at a Jewish school, received paramilitary training in Pakistan.