The massive manhunt for the men behind the deadly attacks in Paris on Wednesday has moved to the tiny village of Longpont, around 50 miles northeast of the capital.
Dozens of French police and gendarmes have swept into the village as they prepare to scour the huge forest nearby forest of Retz, where the two brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, are believed to be hiding.
A police helicopter flew overhead and several dozen police vehicles, among them vans from the elite unit RAID, poured into the 13,000-hectare wood and the surrounding farmland.
The police convoy descended on the village of 300 people after the suspects apparently abandoned the Renault Clio they had hijacked on Wednesday nearby before fleeing on foot, leaving the vehicle stocked with Molotov cocktails and jihadists flags.
Benoit Verdun, the manager of the Abbaye hotel and restaurant in Longpont, said that he had asked customers to leave and shut his restaurant.
He said he had received a message from the brother of the local mayor, telling him to close for safety and batten down the hatches.
The restaurant owner said the residents of the small settlement had been shocked by the drama on their doorstep.
"There's a helicopter overhead now, but I haven't seen any police or heard any commotion," he said.
"But the forest around here is enormous, so if the brothers have gone in there it will be quite a hunt."
The Foret de Retz is 13,000 hectares - larger than the size of Paris, which is only 11,000 hectares, Mr Verdun said.
French anti-terrorism police converged on an area northeast of Paris after two brothers suspected of being behind an attack on a satirical newspaper were spotted at a petrol station in the region.
Two police sources said that the men were seen armed and wearing cagoules in a Renault Clio car at a petrol station on a secondary road in Villers-Cotterets some 70 kilometers from the French capital.
Amid French media reports the men had abandoned their car, Bruno Fortier, the mayor of neighbouring Crépy-en-Valois, said helicopters were circling his town and police and anti-terrorism forces were deploying en masse.
"It's an incessant waltz of police cars and trucks," he told Reuters, adding that he could not confirm reports the men were holed up in a house in the area.