There was chaos in France today as police dealt with two live hostage situations. We kept you updated on all developments throughout the day in this liveblog.

A summary of the main developments in France today…

Police launched two simultaneous assaults on separate hostage situations in Paris and Dammartin, a suburban town 40kms northeast of the city.

Charlie Hebdo suspects, brothers Chérif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, were killed in the assault.

Their hostage was freed and is safe.

One of the hostage takers in a kosher supermarket in Paris, Amedi Coulibaly, was killed in the police assault.

Four hostages died in the store with another four critically wounded.

Up to 15 hostages were taken, including a number of children, who were eventually rescued.

The gunman in the Paris store is linked to the shooting dead of a policewoman yesterday.

His girlfriend and suspected accomplice is still on the loose.

Links have been established between Coulibaly and the Charlie Hebdo gunmen.

An event has been organised to take place in Paris this Sunday, with European leaders expected to attend.

11.10pm: AFP reports tonight:

As the drama reached its climax, chilling links emerged showing the brothers, identified as Cherif and Said Kouachi, and supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly were close allies and had worked together. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Coulibaly had “threatened to kill all the hostages” if police moved in on the Kouachi brothers, and he had said the supermarket was booby-trapped.The three all had a radical past and were known to French intelligence.

It also said that at the printing business in Dammartin-en-Goele, the brothers took the store manager hostage, later releasing him after he helped Said with his wound, while a second man hid upstairs, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.

The men had a hefty cache of arms including Molotov cocktails and a loaded rocket-launcher.

One witness described a terrifying face-to-face encounter with one of the suspects, dressed in black, wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying what looked like a Kalashnikov.

The salesman told France Info radio that one of the brothers said: “‘Leave, we don’t kill civilians anyhow’.”

The French police have released this video of the scene at Dammartin-en-Goele:

Francois Molins revealed that Coulibaly and Boumedienne had spoken more than 500 times to the Kouachi brothers over the phone, The Guardian reports.

Molins also said it was likely that four of the hostages who perished were killed before the police entered the Kosher market, but rather when the gunman entered the building.

There are five people in detention. They include the wife of one of the Kouachi brothers.

Paris prosecutor said Amedy Coulibalis had cased the supermarket the week before. He had identified it as a target. Long planned. — Bill Neely (@BillNeelyNBC) January 9, 2015 Source: Bill Neely /Twitter

Here’s how things unfolded throughout the day: