Nearly simultaneously, police launched an assault on the hideout outside Paris of two brothers accused of carrying out a massacre Wednesday at the offices of the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
French news media and officials reported that the hostage-taker at the kosher store and the two brothers were killed in the assaults. Officials said hostages at both locations were freed, but there were reports of deaths among the hostages at the kosher store.
France’s ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud, said on his Twitter account: “The kosher supermarket has been stormed. The terrorist is dead. The hostages are alive.”
However, France 24 television and other news media reported that at least four hostages were killed at the kosher store. There was no immediate confirmation from officials.
Araud also reported that the two brothers were dead and their lone hostage alive after the police assault northeast of Paris.
“At least 12 hostages are free and safe from the grocery store, but there were more hostages than initially thought,” said Christophe Tirante, a senior police official. “Now it’s not clear how many wounded there are inside the store.”
The raid came right at sundown, starting with three loud explosions. A short pause was followed by 30 seconds of sustained explosions and gunfire. The operation came without apparent warning. Amid the blasts, police manning a cordon several blocks away ordered bystanders to move farther back from the site, and parents shepherded screaming children into the shelter of nearby doorways.
Moments before the raid, Anthony Revaux, 29, spoke on the phone with one of the grocery store hostages, a friend who was hiding in the building’s cold storage unit along with several others, including at least one child.
“We’re very afraid, and we’re very cold. Tell the police to hurry,” the woman, whom Revaux identified as Noemi, told him.
“Don’t panic,” he replied. “The police will do their best.”
