Paris terror suspects cornered, The suspects in the terror attack on a newspaper's Paris office were located again Friday morning having stolen a car near a highway northeast of the French capital and then reportedly holed up on an industrial estate, possibly with one or more hostages.
There was gunfire and heavy police activity around the town of Dammartin-en-Goële, about 25 miles northeast of Paris along the N2 highway, which falls within the corridor that became the focus of the manhunt on Thursday.
There were multiple reports that one or more people had been taken hostage inside a printing business on an industrial estate in Dammartin, less than 10 miles to the northeast of Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport. Two runways at the airport were closed to flights amid the ongoing police operation, which included several helicopters hovering over the scene.
Heavily armed police surrounded the industrial estate, which sits in the middle of farmland. At least one member of the security forces was seen walking along a rooftop on the estate.
"We are almost certain it is those two individuals holed up in that building," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said live on French television. Brandet later said he could not confirm the suspects had taken anyone hostage.The printing business where the suspects were trapped, called CTD, has a small staff of only about five employees, including the owner and at least two relatives. Their whereabouts late Friday morning as the standoff played out could not be confirmed.
France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said only that an "ongoing operation" to apprehend the suspects was underway in Dammartin. Elite French troops and anti-terror police quickly swarmed into the area, and police were not allowing members of the media to enter the village.
French officials told the Associated Press that police had established phone contact with the suspects, French-Algerian brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, but there was no confirmation that negotiations were underway.
In a sign that trying to talk the Kouachi brothers down could prove difficult, a French lawmaker told the AP that the men have told police they want to die as "martyrs."
French officials said, contrary to earlier reports, that there were no known deaths or injuries resulting from the gunfire Friday, and emergency officials had not reported any casualties.
A man who claimed to have spoken to the suspects Friday morning told a French news outlet they appeared calm and told him to "go home," adding that they did not intend to kill civilians. The man's account could not be independently verified.
A communications officer at Dammartin's city hall confirmed to CBS News that all residents had been asked to stay inside.
The Kouachis, in their early 30s and both with documented histories of jihadist activity, have been on the run since they allegedly killed 12 people in a massacre at the headquarters of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday. They were raised in France.
There were reports, meanwhile, that police had identified the suspected gunman behind a separate attack Thursday morning just south of Paris which left a female police officer dead. An unknown assailant fatally wounded the officer after a car crash and then fled on foot.
French television reports said Friday that at least two people had been arrested in connection with the attack in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge, and at least one report citing law enforcement officials said the suspected gunman was believed to be an acquaintance of the Kouachi brothers.
Cherif Kouachi's arrest in 2008 for recruiting fighters in France to travel to Iraq made him the more well-known of the two, but his older brother Said may actually have stronger ties to al Qaeda terrorists, CBS News' Bob Orr reported Thursday.
U.S. sources said French investigators have evidence Said traveled to Yemen in 2011 and linked up with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, the terror network's affiliate based in the country. CBS News has been told Said "spent several months" in Yemen training with AQAP.
Multiple witnesses to the attack on Charlie Hebdo's office, and the man who had his car stolen by the brothers Friday morning, reported the men claiming an affiliation with AQAP.
During Said's time in Yemen, AQAP's terror operations were being run by the U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Awlaki was the inspiration behind Nidal Hassan's massacre at Fort Hood. Awlaki also led the failed attempts to hit the U.S. with bombs smuggled onto jetliners inside underwear and computer printers.
It's not clear if Said had any direct dealings with Awlaki before returning to France in 2011. Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike on September 30th the same year.
