Hostage-taking in French town, Hebdo suspects sighted

* US President Barack Obama said he hoped the immediate threat stemming from the recent shootings in Paris was now resolved and pledged US support to the people of France.

* European leaders to join French president Francois Hollande at a unity rally in Paris on Sunday.

French President Francois Hollande addresses the nation at the Elysee Palace in Paris January 9, 2015. French President Francois Hollande confirmed reports on Friday that four hostages were killed at a siege of a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris. [Photo/Agencies]

* UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon signed a condolence book following deadly attack on French magazine.

* Yemeni authorities suspect that Said Kouachi, one of the brothers involved in the deadly attack on a Paris newspaper, fought with al-Qaida in Yemen at the height of the group's offensive in the country's south, a security official said Friday. US intelligence officials said they believe he was trained by al-Qaida there to return home to carry out an attack.

* A new, massive manhunt was launched for the only surviving suspect from the two hostage situations in France, who may have escaped, police union spokesman Pascal Disant said. That suspect is Hayat Boumeddiene, a 26-year-old woman who allegedly was the accomplice of Amedy Coulibaly, 32, in the standoff at a kosher grocery store in eastern Paris.

A still image taken from the French TV channel shows the scene of a hostage taking where police and the suspects exchanged fire in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, January 9, 2015. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

* Four hostages die at 2nd siege along with hostage taker

* Two brothers killed, their hostage freed

* One French agent injured during assault against Kouachi brothers

* Several hostages at Porte de Vincennes freed

* France faces major threat to internal security

* Second siege was at Paris kosher supermarket

French police on guard at the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, January 9, 2015. [Photo by Tuo Yannan/chinadaily.com.cn]

Police are dealing with two different hostage siutations, one in Dammartin-en-Goele and one one eastern Paris.

One person was seriously wounded in the hostage-taking incident at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris on Friday, a police union source said.The interior ministry denied press reports that two people had been killed. Police sources said one person was injured after being shot.

Police say 2 people killed in Paris

As many as five hostages being held in Paris (BBC)

Several people were taken hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris on Friday after a shootout involving a man armed with two guns, a police source said.

There were unconfirmed reports that the man was the same as that suspected of killing a policewoman in a southern suburb of Paris on Thursday.

Police negotiating with terror suspects

Police connect two terror incidents

Hostage is a woman

Key Points：

--Two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo killings are believed to be surrounded by police in a building near Paris

--One or more hostages are being held hostage at a business near Charles de Gaulle airport

--Shots were fired earlier as police closed in to chase a car believed to contain the suspects

--Thousands of police - supported by helicopters - are involved in the security operation

 

French Interior Ministry Spokesman said it is "almost certain" that hostage takers are the two Charlie Hebdo suspects.

Members of the French gendarmerie intervention forces arrive at the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris January 9, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

DAMMARTIN-EN-GOELE - French authorities circled a small northern town with anti-terrorist police and helicopters on Friday after at least one person was taken hostage there and the two main suspects in the Charlie Hebdo killings were sighted.

Suspects Cherif Kouachi, left, and Said Kouachi

"We have indications of the presence of the terrorists whom we want to stop," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters in Paris after a police source said a hostage-taking was going on within an industrial unit in the town.

"An operation is underway right now in Dammartin-en-Goele, which is mobilizing all services in the zone," Cazeneuve said, adding that further operations would be conducted in "the upcoming hours, upcoming minutes."

Dammartin-en-Goele is 40 km (25 miles) from the woodland zone where police had been hunting the two suspects on Thursday.

Earlier, gunshots rang out in the town and a police source reported that police had been chasing a vehicle on the nearby A2 motorway.

Five helicopters were seen flying over an industrial zone outside the town of Dammartin-en-Goele and the French Interior Minister confirmed an operation was taking place there.

Before night fell on Thursday, officers had been focusing on their search some 40 km (25 miles) away on the woodland village of Corcy, not far from a service station where police sources said the brothers had been sighted in ski masks a day after the shootings at the newspaper.

The fugitive suspects are French-born sons of Algerian-born parents, both in their early 30s, and already under police surveillance. One was jailed for 18 months for trying to travel to Iraq a decade ago to fight as part of an Islamist cell. Police said they were "armed and dangerous".

One of two brothers visited Yemen in 2011 and met the late al Qaeda preacher Anwar al Awlaki during his stay, a senior Yemeni intelligence source said on Friday.

The source said Said Kouachi, was in Yemen for a number of months in 2011 as one of the foreigners who entered the country for religious studies, but there was no confirmed information whether he was trained by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the group's most active affiliates.

A Yemeni official familiar with the matter said the Yemen government was aware of the possibility of a connection between Said Kouachi and AQAP, and was looking into any possible links.

US government sources said Said Kouachi and his brother Cherif Kouachi were listed in two US security databases, a highly classified database containing information on 1.2 million possible counter-terrorism suspects, called TIDE, and the much smaller "no fly" list maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center, an interagency unit.

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