A MASSIVE police operation is under way in northeast of Paris, as the search for two suspects behind the killing of 12 people at a French magazine earlier in the week intensified, local media and the interior ministry have confirmed.
Local media said witnesses reported on Friday a high-speed car chase and gunshots as police chased the suspects on a French highway outside Paris.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that an operation was under way to “neutralize” the suspects as the massive manhunt appeared to be reaching a dramatic climax with helicopters buzzing overhead. The ministry has said that there have been no deaths or injuries in the ongoing operation.
Fresh shooting broke out in eastern Paris on Friday, with reports that an armed man had taken several people hostage at a kosher grocery store, AFP news agency reported. One person is believed to be wounded.
Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport closed two runways to arrivals amid the police operation in Dammartin-en-Goele town close to the airport. But an airport spokesman said the flight diversions are not affecting schedules.
The latest developments come as heavily armed anti-terrorism police swooped on residential areas of the town in an extensive manhunt for two brothers suspected of being behind killing at the satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo.
Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee, reporting from Dammartin-en-Goele, around 30km northeast of Paris, said the entire area was under lock down amid multiple reports filtering through of the men’s whereabouts in the area. It is also understood that the men may have taken a hostage.
“Police have sealed the area as part of their attempt to isolate and sterilise area. People have been told to stay in their offices and not move around,” our correspondent said.
French authorities raised the security alert to the highest possible level in the region of Picardy, to the northeast of Paris, where the suspects were sighted. Authorities said that their hijacked getaway car was found in the same area.
Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland, reporting from Paris, said the manhunt was approaching its final moments.
President Francois Hollande rushed to the interior ministry meeting to be briefed on the situation as Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared that France was at “war” with terrorism, but “not in a war against religion”.
“It will without doubt be necessary to take measures” to respond to the terrorist “threat,” he said.
Two of the alleged attackers, who are also brothers, have been identified as 32-year-old Said Kouachi and 34-year-old Cherif Kouachi. Police said they are French-born sons of Algerian-born parents.
In a news conference on Thursday, the interior minister said the younger brother was known to French security forces, adding that he had had links to al-Qaeda in 2004 and 2005.
He added that Said Kouachi had been under security surveillance.
The Associated Press news agency reported that the two brothers told police that they “want to die as martyrs,” quoting a local lawmaker.
Police also said that the fatal shooting of a policewoman in Montrouge, south of Paris, on Thursday was linked to Wednesday’s shooting at the newspaper’s office. Another city employee was also seriously wounded in the shooting by a man wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying a handgun and automatic rifle.
Suspect jailed before
Earlier, police said that Kouachi was imprisoned for 18 months for trying to travel to Iraq to fight for armed groups.
Nine people have been detained in relation to the investigation, Cazeneuve also said.
Four cartoonists working with the publication, including the editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as “Charb”, were among the dead. The other cartoonists killed were known as Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski.
Charlie Hebdo’s depictions of Islam, including the Prophet Muhammad, had drawn condemnation and threats before. It was firebombed in 2011 – although it also satirized other religions as well as political figures.
Wednesday’s attack triggered global outrage and condemnation.
French President Francois Hollande said it was a “terrorist act of exceptional barbarism”, adding that other attacks have been thwarted in France in recent weeks. (Al Jazeera)
Link:http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2015/01/paris-attack-suspects-holed-up-french-town-20151984925588546.html
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