Two people have been killed in a Kosher store in eastern Paris where a ‘heavily armed’ Islamic terrorist is currently holding hostages, police believe.
Sources in the Paris force said the suspected murderer was Amedy Coulibay, 32, who is wearing body armour and brandishing two Kalashnikov automatic weapons.
He is said to be working with a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, who is also said to be ‘armed and dangerous’.
The Kouachi brothers, who are orphans, were radicalised by an Iman operating in northern Paris.
They were raised in foster care in Rennes, in western France, with Cherif training as a fitness instructor before moving to Paris.
They lived in the 19th arrondissement and were radicalised by Farid Benyettou, a janitor-turned-preacher who gave sermons calling for jihad in Iraq and suicide bombings.
His Buttes-Chaumont recruitment group, named after a Paris park, sent at least a dozen young men to fight in Iraq.
The Kouachis share similar backgrounds to Mohammed Merah, the 23-year-old French Algerian responsible for murdering seven people, including four Jews and three Muslim soldiers, in the Toulouse area in 2012.
Merah, who was himself shot dead by police, had also been left to operate as a terrorist in France, despite the authorities knowing he had trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Last year Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French Algerian, was arrested in Marseille in connection with an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels which left four people dead. He denies any crimes, and is currently on remand in Belgium.
Pictured: French media identified this woman as Clarissa Jean-Philippe, the young policewoman who was gunned down as she attended a routine traffic accident in Montrouge at 8am yesterday
A map showing the location of the two shootings on Wednesday and yesterday – as well as the movements of the police and Charlie Hebdo suspects since the first attack
Police are currently engaged in a standoff with brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi – alleged to have carried out the massacre – in northern France
FACES OF THE 12 VICTIMS OF THE CHARLIE HEBDO MASSACRE REVEALED
French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s deputy chief editor Bernard Maris and cartoonists Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut, aka Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Honore (Philippe Honore)
The names of the 12 people killed in cold by blood by three gunmen during a horrifying attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices on Wednesday morning have been revealed.
The dead include eight editorial staff, one worker, one visitor, one policeman, who was on the cartoonists’ security detail, and one policeman who was shot dead on the street.
Heroic Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet, who was executed by a terrorist gunman on the streets of Paris while he begged for his life.
Shocking footage of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office shows Mr Merabet on the ground and begging for mercy as he is killed casually by a gunshot to the head. Witnesses say he asked ‘do you want to kill me?’ before the gunman replied ‘OK, chief’.
It is understood that Mr Merabet was a married Parisian cycle cop assigned to the 11th arrondissement – the Paris neighbourhood where Charlie Hebdo’s office is located and known for its dining and fine wines.
As the French magazine vowed to publish next week in defiance of the massacre, one French mourner wrote: ‘Ahmed Merabet died protecting the innocent from hate. I salute him.’
The second police officer to be killed in the attack was Franck Brinsolaro, 49, a brigadier and protection officer for the magazine’s editor Stephane Charbonnier.
The married 49-year-old lived in Bernay, France, and was the father of two children. His wife, Ingrid Brinsolaro, is editor of the Awakening Normand, Bernay, a newspaper that belongs to the group Publihebdos, as Hebdo de Sevre et Maine.
The team at Publihebdos have released a statement regarding the killing.
It read: ‘Publihebdos teams are in shock after the cowardly attack and great seriousness that hit Charlie Hebdo today.
‘This barbaric attack left many victims including a downed police was the husband of Ingrid Brinsolaro, our editor at Bernay. We are devastated and very sad.’
Mr Charbonnier, the defiant editor whose satirical newspaper dared to poke fun at everything from religion to feminism and spoke out fiercely against political correctness, was another of the 12 victims.
Just two years ago, the 47-year-old – nicknamed Charb – declared: ‘I am not afraid of retaliation. I have no children, no wife, no car, no credit,’ he said after receiving death threats two years ago. ‘It perhaps sounds a bit pompous, but I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.’
Mr Charbonnier, who took over as editor in 2009, grew up in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northern France and joined Charlie Hebdo in the early 1990s as a designer.
The magazine’s cartoonists were also targeted by the gunmen in the attack.
Jean ‘Cabu’ Cabut, the magazine’s 76-year-old lead cartoonist was an almost legendary cultural figure in France.
Known by the nickname ‘Cabu’, he was renowned for his quick wit and youthful style. He was also notorious for his drawing of Mohammed, which sparked fury after adorning the cover of Charlie Hebdo in 2006.
Despite all the controversy, Mr Cabut was insistent that art should not be constrained. Perhaps his most famous quote was: ‘Sometimes laughter can hurt – but laughter, humour and mockery are our only weapons.’
Georges Wolinski, an 80-year-old who was as renowned for his colourful home life as he was for being a ‘master of satirical illustration’.
Married twice, he once joked about his dying wish, saying: ‘I want to be cremated. I said to my wife, “if you throw the ashes in the toilet, I get to see your bottom every day”.’
Six of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and staff members killed in yesterday’s attack are pictured together in this photo, taken in 2000. Circled top from left is Philippe Honore, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Maris and Jean Cabut. Below them on the stairs, from left, is editor Stephane Charbonnier and cartoonist Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac
Mr Wolinski was born in Tunis on June 28, 1934 to a Franco-Italian mother and a Polish Jewish father. He joined Hara-Kiri with Cabu in 1960 and became renowned for his cartoons, which spoofed politics and sexuality.
Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac, was a renowned pacifist. The 57-year-old Parisian had been drawing for the French press since 1980 and originally made his name on comic publication L’idiot international.
Mourners were also last night paying tribute to Philippe Honore, a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo who specialised in ‘literary puzzles’. The 73-year-old was born in Vichy, central France, and was first published aged just 16.
Victim Bernard Maris was a Left-wing economist, known to readers as ‘Uncle Bernard’. Heartbroken friends said the 68-year-old was a ‘cultured, kind and very tolerant man’.
Mourners were also last night paying tribute to Philippe Honore, a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo who specialised in ‘literary puzzles’. The 73-year-old was born in Vichy, central France, and was first published aged just 16.
Victim Bernard Maris was a Left-wing economist, known to readers as ‘Uncle Bernard’. Heartbroken friends said the 68-year-old was a ‘cultured, kind and very tolerant man’.
Also killed was Michel Renaud, who did not work for Charlie Hebdo, but had been invited to the magazine’s offices as guest editor. He was the founder of ‘Rendez-vous de Carnet de Voyage’, a travel-themed art festival.
It has been reported that the final two victims are Frédéric Boisseau, a maintenance worker, and Elsa Cayat.
Ms Cayat, the only female victim of the gunmen, was a columnist and analyst for the magazine, according to Le Figaro.
Post mortems will be held on Thursday, according to reports citing the prosecutor of Paris, François Molins.
