France Terror Suspects Killed After Police Raids

Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, the two brothers who allegedly killed 12 at the offices of Charlie Hebdo were killed after police launched an assault on the building where they had taken a hostage, the AP reports. Their hostage was freed.

The brothers were cornered in a printing warehouse in Dammartin-en-Goele after police launched a manhunt for them in France. Schools around the area were evacuated. A security official told the AP the brothers came out firing on security forces, which is what prompted police to launch the assault. The Kouachis reportedly have links to al Qaeda, and their terrorist attack on the satirical newspaper in Paris left the city reeling in fear.

About 15 minutes after they launched an assault on the brothers, police launched another assault at the scene of the second hostage situation, where an alleged gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, took five hostages at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris. AFP reports that hostage-taker has also been killed. An unknown number of hostages from the supermarket are dead, though several were seen leaving the area. His alleged accomplice, Hayet Boumddiene, reportedly escaped.

The hostage-takers are apparently linked through a jihadist cell that might have sent the three men to fight U.S. forces in Iraq. Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were involved in a prison break attempt in 2010, for which Coulibaly was convicted, though charges against Kouachi were dropped.