All three dead terrorists were born in France but linked to same terror cell

First chilling images inside kosher grocery show bodies of hostages lying on the ground

Hostages died at grocery shop while Michel Catalano, who was held by Kouachi brothers, escaped unharmed

Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi were killed as they tried to fight their way out of a print works 25 miles from Paris

His girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene, described as armed and dangerous, is still on the run

Hostages pictured fleeing Jewish grocery shop in east of the city where four people lost their lives


A father lets out a sob of ecstatic relief as he clutches his son. A mother, her face a picture of joy, holds her precious child as she flees the scene of a bloody hostage drama in Paris that cost the lives of four innocent people.

In 15 astonishing minutes, police brought a dramatic end to two sieges after three days of terror had paralysed the French capital.

Police commandos stormed a Jewish grocery store in a hail of bullets and stun grenades, killing an Al Qaeda-linked gunman who was holding 15 hostages.

Twelve minutes earlier, and only 25 miles away, another stand-off ended with the deaths of Charlie Hebdo killers, Said and Cherif Kouachi.

Firing their Kalashnikovs, they charged straight into the guns of hundreds of soldiers and police surrounding their final hideout.

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Relief: Two hostages leave with their young child (left) and a man carrying a small child is seen fleeing from the ordeal (right) after police stormed the kosher grocery store in eastern Paris

Going in: Special forces storm the Jewish grocery to the east of Paris where terrorist Amedey Coulibaly had taken hostages

Chilling: The body of a man can be seen at the entrance of the Jewish supermarket after it was stormed by commandos

Terrified: Hostages - who had been held for hours with Coulibaly threatening to kill them - flee from the shop, crying with relief

Running to safety: Police escort seven hostages freed from the kosher grocers, including one woman who had to be carried

The grocery store terrorist, Amedy Coulibaly, 32, gave an interview to a French TV station at the height of the siege in which he swore allegiance to Islamic State and claimed the three days of mayhem had been ‘synchronised’.

Coulibaly confirmed he had shot a policewoman in the south of Paris on Thursday. ‘Them Charlie Hebdo; me the police,’ he said.

One of his hostages had left a telephone line open so police could hear what was happening in the shop and moved in when the gunman began to pray.

IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Yemen confirmed Said Kouachi, 34, had fought for Al Qaeda against its forces;

Said, Cherif and Coulibaly had been part of the same jihadi underground network in Paris sending fighters to Iraq;

The Kouachis had been placed on a watch and no-fly list by both British and US intelligence;

Coulibaly and Cherif served time in prison together with a notorious Al Qaeda terrorist once based in the UK;

Police patrols were stepped up in London and Manchester amid fears of fresh attacks on Jewish targets in the UK;

David Cameron said he would be joining a unity rally in Paris tomorrow. Advertisement

The Kouachi brothers, who were trained by Al Qaeda in Yemen, had a hostage they did not know about during their nine-hour siege at a printworks in Dammartin-en-Goele, near Charles de Gaulle airport, northeast of Paris.

A 27-year-old graphic designer hid inside a box with his phone for more than six hours and updated police on his phone.

Another man, Michel Catalano, who the brothers held during the stand-off, was able to walk to safety helped by police. The terrorists had told negotiators they wanted to ‘die as martyrs’ before mounting their fatal charge.

Last night French president Francois Hollande spoke to the nation promising ‘all necessary measures will be used’ to protect the French people and called on them to remain united in ‘these difficult times’.

He said the attacks had been carried out by fanatics who had nothing to do with Islam and said the assault on the grocery shop was ‘anti-semitic’.

The country must remain vigilant against the possibility of further attacks, he stressed.

The dual assaults brought to an end France’s biggest security operation with nearly 90,000 police and soldiers deployed initially to hunt down the brothers, and then Coulibaly, after he had shot dead the 27-year-old policewoman.

Millions had watched gripped on television as the manhunt for the terrorists had ended in bloody shootouts, car chases and sieges.

At one point seven helicopters and more than 50 police and military vehicles had been involved in a high-speed chase during which shots were fired after the Kouachis broke cover from a forest where they had been sheltering 50 miles north east of Paris.

Dead: Amedey Coulibaly was shot dead after taking at least six hostages at a grocery store in east Paris. He is believed to be have been working with his girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene (right) who was said to be 'armed and dangerous'

Dead: Cherif Kouachi (left), 32, and his brother Said (right) were killed in a firefight with French special forces at a industrial site

Bloody climax: A huge ball of fire erupts amid gunfire and explosions as French special forces shoot dead the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen

In their sights: Police train their weapons on the building where the Charlie Hebdo gunmen were holed up with a hostage in Dammartin-en-Goele

ALGERIAN WARNING Algerian secret services warned France of an imminent attack 24 hours before the Paris atrocity, it was claimed last night. Officials told their French counterparts that a ‘major terrorist operation was in preparation on French territory’ on January 6, according to TV station iTele. The claim is particularly interesting because the Kouachi brothers behind the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices were French nationals of Algerian descent. They were radicalised by the Buttes-Chaumont jihadist recruitment cell, primarily made up of Franco-Algerians. Advertisement

They were forced in to the industrial estate at Dammartin-en-Goele where they made their last stand.

Local residents were evacuated or ordered to lock themselves in their homes as what was described as ‘a small army’ of soldiers and police surrounded them, throwing a cordon around the area.

‘They said they want to die as martyrs,’ Yves Albarello, a local politician who was inside the command post, claimed.

Meanwhile, across Paris, Coulibaly, brandishing his Kalashnikov, wearing a bullet proof vest and firing at shoppers, had stormed the kosher supermarket near the Porte de Vincennes, shooting or taking hostage those inside.

Police said he was accompanied by a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26. They were described as ‘armed and dangerous.’

Her fate was unknown last night amid reports that she was on the run. Unknown to the gunman, several Jewish families were hiding in a freezing store room below, listening to the gunfire and terror above.

It appeared that at one point Coulibaly and the Kouachis were in contact and police shut down all communications around the industrial site.

Coulibaly warned a hostage negotiator that if the brothers were killed, he would open fire on his hostages. One woman trapped inside telephoned her mother to say: ‘I am in the shop. I love you.’

Explosion: The street is rocked during the final stages of the siege which left four hostages dead

Front door: Officers were also seen pouring in through the front door at the denouement of the siege

Assault force: Special forces line up to enter the premises through a backdoor as the street is rocked by explosions

Police locked down the area, swamping it with hundreds of security forces. Snipers could be seen on rooftops and at windows looking for a clear shot at Coulibaly.

Last night there was a huge sense of relief in the French capital, mixed with disbelief and fears of more copycat strikes.

There were difficult questions too for the intelligence services as to why they had stopped their surveillance on the Kouachi brothers when their jihadi terror links going back eight years were so well known.

In a telephone call yesterday, Cherif Kouachi admitted he had been funded by a network loyal to Anwar al-Awlaki, the former American-born leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed by a drone strike in 2011 in Yemen.

Frantic: Police rush to the scene of the hostage-taking at an industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele around 25 miles from Paris

Siege: The gunmen are surrounded by police commandos who have begun negotiations to try to secure the release of the hostage

Trapped: The brothers were cornered in the premises of a printing firm after leading police on a dramatic car chase

Scoping it out: Police and armed forces take up positions in Dammartin-en-Goele after landing by helicopter in fields near the hostage scene

Hacker group Anonymous ‘declared war’ on Islamist terrorists last night saying they would smash their online networks. The group said it would track down and close social media accounts of militants, in a video and statement published online.

A figure wearing the group’s symbolic Guy Fawkes mask appeared seated in front of a desk with the hashtag #OpCharlieHebdo.

Speaking in French and with his voice obscured electronically, he said: ‘We are declaring war against you, the terrorists.’

How three days of terror unfolded after gunmen first stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday

Holed up: The gunmen escaped on foot into a small printing business (above) called Creating Trend Discovery, just before 9am GMT

In a separate statement posted online the group said ‘freedom of expression has suffered inhuman assault … and it is our duty to react’.

The move is a novel departure for Anonymous which has previously carried out attacks on government, religious and corporate websites. Many of them were so-called ‘denial-of-service’ attacks.