At least five hostages were being held Friday in eastern Paris, with some reports saying two people were killed at a kosher supermarket — while the two suspects in the earlier murderous rampage at a satirical newspaper were cornered near Charles de Gaulle Airport, according to reports.
The man who took the hostages appears linked to the newsroom massacre that left 12 people dead, a police official said, according to the Associated Press.
The official said the man opened fire Friday near Paris’ Porte de Vincennes and said: “You know who I am.”
Agence France-Presse was cited by French media as saying at least two had been killed in a shootout there, but police said they could not confirm any deaths.
Amedy Coulibaly, who was named as a suspect in the Thursday killing of a policewoman, is the man holed up in the market with an automatic rifle. Some hostages have been seriously wounded, the official said.
A second suspect, a woman named Hayet Boumddiene, is the gunman’s accomplice, the official said.
The hostage-taker knew at least one of the suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, a source told Agence France-Presse.
Coulibaly, 32, reportedly was seen with magazine massacre suspect Cherif Kouachi in 2010 during a probe into an attempted prison break in France. Coulibaly was convicted for his role, AFP reported.
Helmeted SWAT squads converged on the standoff site as the French president ordered the country’s top security official to the scene, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, the two cold-blooded brothers who slaughtered 12 people at Charlie Hebdo were holed up with a hostage inside a printing house about 18 miles away — saying they “want to die as martyrs.”
Authorities reportedly have cornered Cherif and Said Kouachi in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele northeast of Paris, a few miles from Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Yves Albarello, a local politican, told iTELE the two brothers had let it be known they wanted to die as martyrs, Reuters reported.
The brothers are “almost certainly” the hostage-takers, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre Henri Brandet said, CNN reported.
Cops earlier were in hot pursuit of the terrorists, who had hijacked a car, along a main road heading toward Paris when gunshots rang out. The suspects abandoned their car in the town of about 8,000 residents, Reuters reported.
A nearby school was evacuated after the suspects agreed to allow the children safe passage, town spokeswoman Audrey Taupenas told the Associated Press.
De Gaulle closed two runways to arrivals to avoid interfering in the tense standoff and the town appealed to residents to stay inside during the siege at the CTF Creation Tendance Decouverte printing house.
Christelle Alleume, who works nearby, said gunfire interrupted her coffee break Friday morning.
“We heard shots and we returned very fast because everyone was afraid,” she told iTELE. “We had orders to turn off the lights and not approach the windows.”
Thousands of security forces have been hunting the heavily armed, slippery brothers after their methodical rampage Wednesday at Charlie Hebdo, where they slaughtered a dozen people.
The carnage was payback for the magazine’s publication of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
It’s believed the suspects knocked off a service station in Villers-Cotterêts, stealing fuel and food, according to multiple French media reports.
The two brothers, born in Paris to Algerian parents, had been eyed by French authorities long before the magazine massacre and were on the American no-fly list.
Cherif, a former pizza deliveryman, was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 in connection with his ties to a network sending jihadis to fight US forces in Iraq. Said had traveled to Yemen, though it was unclear if he intended to join extremist groups, officials said.
A third suspect, Mourad Hamyd, 18, surrendered Wednesday evening after hearing his name linked to the attacks. His relationship to the Kouachi brothers was unclear.
Charlie Hebdo remains undaunted by the tragedy and plans a special edition next week.