Two brothers suspected of attacking the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo were killed when police stormed their hideout this afternoon while their hostage was freed, a police official said.

However, a police source said at least four other hostages had been killed at a separate siege at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris.

It is now believed that the four people who died in the attack were killed when the assailant entered the store - not when police tried to rescue them.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins also said that several people have been handed preliminary charges in the investigation following the three-day rampage that has terrified France.

They include family members of the three suspects, who were killed by police today.

He said that gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed four people when he entered the kosher market in eastern Paris today. Fifteen hostages in the store were later set free.

Mr Molins added that one of the two gunmen in the other stand-off today was wounded in the throat in a shoot-out with police before being killed later.

Earlier two brothers died when security forces moved in on a print works in the small town of Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where the chief suspects in Wednesday's attack had been holed up with their hostage.

Hostage negotiation expert George Rhoden: Situation is "extremely dangerous" as gunmen want to kill & make "public statement" #CharlieHebdo — BBC Radio 5 live (@bbc5live) January 9, 2015

A police source said the hostage-taker at the Jewish supermarket, who is believed to have had links to the same Islamist group as the brothers, had also been killed.

The print works at Dammartin-en-Goele, set in marsh and woodland, had been under siege since the gunmen abandoned a high-speed car chase and took refuge there early this morning.

La prise d'otages aurait lieu dans l'imprimerie CTD "Création Tendance Découverte" de Dammartin-en-Goële pic.twitter.com/1nrrO3cy5w — Anthony Rigollé (@thony911) January 9, 2015

The three terrorists behind the bloody spate of terror attacks in France have been killed after police stormed both scenes.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close An explosion at Dammartin-en-Goële as French special forces move in on brothers Said (34), and Cherif Kouachi (32) The scene outside the Paris grocery store as French special forces prepared to move on the hostage takers The scene as French special forces stormed the Paris grocery store where a number of hostages were being held Hostages flee from the Paris grocery store after French special forces moved to end the siege Armed securtiy forces fly overhead in a military helicopter in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) AP Création Tendance Découverte, a printing business in Dammartin-en-Goële where the Charlie Hebdo shooting suspects are holed up Armed securtiy forces fly overhead in a military helicopter in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) AP A helicopter with members of the French intervention gendarme forces hover above the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Christian Hartmann REUTERS Armed securtiy forces fly overhead in a military helicopter in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) AP Members of the French gendarmerie intervention forces arrive at the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Christian Hartmann REUTERS Police vans are lined up in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast Paris, as part of an operation to seize two heavily armed suspects. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) AP French gendarmes secure the roundabout near the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Eric Gaillard REUTERS A member of the security forces walks inside Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) AP A French Army helicopter with intervention forces hovers near the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Christian Hartmann REUTERS Gendarmes block the access to Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) AP Police and army forces take positions in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast Paris, as part of an operation to seize two heavily armed suspects. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) AP Ambulances arrive in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast Paris, as part of an operation to seize two heavily armed suspects. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) AP French gendarmes secure the roundabout near the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Eric Gaillard REUTERS Helicopters with French intervention forces hover above the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Pascal Rossignol REUTERS Police officers control the access to Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) AP Journalists work near the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Eric Gaillard REUTERS A gendarme van is parked in a gas station in Villers Cotteret, 80 kilometers northeast of Paris, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, where the suspects were reportedly spotted, a day after masked gunmen stormed the offices of a satirical newspaper and killed 12 people. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) AP Police officers investigate a gas station in Villers Cotteret, 80 kilometers northeast of Paris, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, where the suspects were reportedly spotted, a day after masked gunmen stormed the offices of a satirical newspaper and killed 12 people. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) AP A gendarme car is parked in a gas station in Villers Cotteret, 80 kilometers northeast of Paris, where the suspects were reportedly spotted, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, a day after masked gunmen stormed the offices of a satirical newspaper and killed 12 people. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) AP A member of the French GIPN intervention police forces secure a neighbourhood in Corcy, northeast of Paris. Photo: Reuters REUTERS Members of the French gendarmerie intervention forces arrive at the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris January 9, 2015. The two main suspects in the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo killings were sighted on Friday in the northern French town of Dammartin-en-Goele where at least one person had been taken hostage, a police source said. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann REUTERS A helicopter with members of the French intervention gendarme forces hover above the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris. Reuters/Christian Hartmann REUTERS An helicopter flies over Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces swarmed a small industrial town northeast of Paris on Friday in an operation to capture a pair of heavily armed suspects in the deadly storming of a satirical newspaper. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) AP Members of the French intervention gendarme forces arrive at the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris January 9, 2015. The two main suspects in the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo killings were sighted on Friday in the northern French town of Dammartin-en-Goele where at least one person had been taken hostage, a police source said. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann REUTERS Members of the French intervention gendarme forces arrive at the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris January 9, 2015. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann REUTERS Said (left) and Cherif Kouachi, the Parisian brothers of Algerian descent who are suspected of carrying out the attack on the offices of French satirical magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’, in which 12 people were murdered. Photos: PAtwo French Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve (centre) surrounded by National Police Director Jean-Marc Falcone (right) and National Gendarmerie Director Denis Favier delivers a speech as he leaves after a meeting the Elysee Palace in Paris. Reuters/Philippe Wojazer REUTERS As a tribute for the victims of yesterday's terrorist attack the lights of the Eiffel Tower were turned off for five minutes at 8pm local time Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp An explosion at Dammartin-en-Goële as French special forces move in on brothers Said (34), and Cherif Kouachi (32)

Charlie Hebdo killer brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi were shot after reportedly emerging from their bolt hole firing at police.

Minutes later armed officers stormed the Jewish supermarket in Paris where Amedy Coulibaly had been locked in a bloody stand off.

He had threatened to kill hostages if police acted against the Kouachis.

Ambulances streamed away from both scenes after the gunfire and explosions which brought the sieges to an end.

DERNIÈRE MINUTE - Les gendarmes se demandent si l'otage a réussi à s'échapper #traque http://t.co/lGFj3d5XJB pic.twitter.com/KRfoxvM7NB — Le Figaro (@Le_Figaro) January 9, 2015

Hostages from the supermarket could be seen being led to safety. The Kouachis' hostage was also freed.

The operations finally brought to an end the worst spate of terror attacks in France since 1961, a murderous spree that has rocked the country.

On another day of extraordinary developments, Coulibaly, an associate of the Charlie Hebdo killers, launched a fresh strike at the Hyper Cacher kosher store in Porte de Vincennes in the east of the capital.

That came hours after the Kouachi brothers were cornered in Dammartin-en-Goele, a town around 25 miles (40km) north of Paris.

Two police officers were injured in the gun battle with the brothers.

Coulibaly, 32, was also behind the murder of a policewoman in the Paris suburb of Montrouge yesterday morning.

He is believed to have been connected to the Kouachis, who started the killing spree on Wednesday morning when they attacked the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

All three men were known to the French security authorities.

There were reports that four hostages were killed at the supermarket, which would take the death total since Wednesday to 20.

One of the supermarket hostages managed to call her daughter, who told Europe 1: "She called me and told me 'I am in the shop, I love you'."

The daughter added: "I am scared. Someone told me there have been two deaths. No one has told me if it is my mother or not."

French PM Manuel Valls visits staff of #CharlieHebdo at offices of @libe pic.twitter.com/GXvysaXM0P TT via @erwancario — Malachy Browne (@malachybrowne) January 9, 2015

Hostage taker Coulibaly opened fire in the supermarket before telling police who flooded the area: "You know who I am."

He then threatened to kill his captives if police launched an operation against the Kouachi brothers cornered on the industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele.

Police issued a photograph of Coulibaly and appealed for help tracking him down as part of the investigation into the "voluntary homicide" of the police woman in Montrouge.

Police also want to trace Hayat Boumeddiene, a 26-year-old woman said to have been Coulibaly's partner.

It is understood that the Kouachi brothers, who were well-known for holding jihadist views, were on a British watch and no-fly list to prevent them from entering the UK or passing through a British airport.

US intelligence placed the brothers on the list at the same time as Britain.

But questions will now be asked about how closely the pair were monitored by the French authorities.

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