3 French terror suspects killed; 4 hostages dead

 

Heavily armed police mounted simultaneous attacks on two hostage-standoffs 35 miles apart on Friday, killing two terror suspects holed up in a warehouse north of Paris and a gunman who had seized hostages at a kosher supermarket in the capital.

 

Although more than a dozen hostages were freed, four died in the operation against the supermarket gunman, French President Francois Hollande said in an address to the nation in which he praised French security forces and called for national unity.
"We will come out of this challenge stronger," Hollande said in brief remarks.
Police confirmed that Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his older brother Said, 34, who had been cornered in a printing warehouse in the village of Dammartin-en-Goele, were killed in the operation that erupted with loud explosions, smoke and gunfire.
At the same time, security forces in eastern Paris stormed the supermarket in Porte de Vincennes, killing the third gunman, identified as Amedy Coulibaly,