Another deadly terrorist attack on France has left at least two people dead in an on-going hostage situation in an East Paris kosher market. This second attack comes as police surround a printing company near Charles de Gaulle airport where the two suspects from Wednesday’s attack are reportedly holed up with at least one hostage.
CBSDC/AP is reporting on France’s ongoing terror nightmare which opened on a new front today when the two people suspected of gunning down a police officer the day after the attack on employees of the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, have now taken six hostages at a kosher market in Paris. Four children are believed to be among the hostages. Reports from the local press say two persons have been killed in that situation.
Authorities believe the gunman is Amedy Coulibaly, the same person who killed a female police officer yesterday. Clarissa Jean-Philippe, 27, was unarmed and directing traffic in Montrouge, in south Paris, when she was gunned down by Coulibay who is believed to be acting in concert with his girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddienne.
Coulibaly is friends with Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his brother Said, 34, who are suspected in the killing of 12 persons at the magazine headquarters on Wednesday morning. All of the men belong to the same recruiting ring that tried to get French forces to fight against the U.S. in Iraq several years ago.
The latest reports say that Coulibaly is demanding the release of the Kouachi brothers in exchange for the deli hostages.
Meanwhile, the Kouachi brothers have holed themselves up in a printing plant in Dammartin-en-Goele, which is a small industrial town near Charles de Gaulle airport. Police report the men say they want to die as martyrs. Town spokeswoman Audrey Taupenas told the Associated Press that there appeared to be one hostage in the printing plant.
Both of the Kouachi brothers, born in Paris to Algerian parents, were orphaned and raised in foster homes in Rennes and were known to police for their terrorist activities. Believed to have been radicalized by a self-made preacher and former janitor named Farid Benyettou, Cherif was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 for his links to a network sending jihadi fighters to combat American force in Iraq. He served 18 months and was released.
His older brother, Said, is known to have traveled to Yemen where he is believed to have joined al Qaeda. During Tuesday’s attack, eyewitnesses say Said claimed allegiance to al Qaeda.
The Kouachi brothers are both listed on the no-fly list in the U.S.
Since the attack on Wednesday, nine people have been detained for questioning, mostly members of the Kouachi family. An estimated 90 others, including some eyewitnesses to the attack at the magazine, were questioned.
A third suspect in Tuesday’s attack, 18-year-old Mourad Hamyd, surrendered at a police station Wednesday evening after hearing his name linked to the attacks. His relationship to the Kouachi brothers was unclear.
Thus far, the Department of Homeland Security is saying that there is no indication of a specific threat to Americans stemming from the events in Paris but President Obama is asking Americans around the world to remain vigilant.
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