MOSCOW, January 9 (Sputnik) — Paris kosher store gunman vows to kill the hostages if French police storm printing plant where the Kouachi brothers are trapped.
UPDATE: Gunman at kosher food shop threatens to kill hostages if police storm Kouachi brothers #Vincennes pic.twitter.com/K5PGxD5U0f
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) 9 января 2015
At the same time there were rounds of gunfire and several explosions were heard at the printworks where the brothers have been trapped.
Smoke seen from building where Charlie Hebdo attack suspects are located. LIVE video: http://t.co/kaVQ74BAQw pic.twitter.com/ZCWaUZUIc8
— Reuters Live (@ReutersLive) 9 января 2015
At least two people are feared killed and one person reportedly injured as at least five people have been taken hostage in a kosher store in eastern Paris, according to AFP.
"There are at least two dead, maybe more, but for the moment we don’t know," the agency quotes one source as saying.
BREAKING PHOTO: Police take position by the kosher grocery in Saint-Mande, near Porte de Vincennes in Paris. — AFP pic.twitter.com/4u56DhaTnC
— World news (@World_newsstand) 9 января 2015
This latest attack follows a shootout involving a man armed with two guns, the agency quotes a police source as saying. Reuters says the man was equipped with automatic weapons.
Breaking #photos Man armed w/ a Kalashnikov is in a Kosher deli in porte de Vincennes, Paris @LePoint #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/hlgvtM6Y0N
— Silver Surfer (@RobPulseNews) 9 января 2015
Sources close to the investigation said shooting had erupted at Porte de Vincennes in the east of Paris on Friday afternoon.
Police immediately cordoned off the area and a helicopter was flying overhead.
RT @PascalDronne L'hélicoptère tourne dans le ciel. Ambiance grave porte de Vincennes. https://t.co/4ibMC3IEip #prisedotage #Vincennes
— Haris Alisic (@HarisAlisic) 9 января 2015
Local media said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is on the way to the scene.
Special forces evacuate local residents in Saint-Mande, near Porte de Vincennes in Paris. Photo @MartinBureau1 #AFP pic.twitter.com/ngaAVAtwFw
— Stéphane Arnaud (@StephaneArnaud_) 9 января 2015
There were unconfirmed reports that the man responsible was the same one suspected of killing a policewoman near an underground station in Montrouge, a southern suburb of Paris on Thursday, Reuters reports.
RAID (police SWAT) arriving porte de Vincennes hostage situation in Paris pic.twitter.com/eBjD6SgAlo
— Gilles Klein (@GillesKLEIN) 9 января 2015
"It is the Montrouge shooter," the agency quotes one of the sources as saying.
French police release mugshots of man and woman linked to policewoman killing, according to AFP report.
Pics of 2 believed to be holding hostages in Paris Kosher supermarket on Porte de Vincennes http://t.co/P4NRzYxoOF pic.twitter.com/ODDaqvkuXk
— HuffPostUK Pictures (@HuffPostUKPics) 9 января 2015
A police source had told the agency earlier that he was a member of the same jihadist group as the two men suspected of carrying out the attack on the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Amedy Coulibaly, 32, was seen with Charlie Hebdo suspect Cherif Kouachi in 2010 during an investigation into an attempted prison break in France. Coulibaly was convicted for his role and was well-known to anti-terrorist police, the agency quotes a source as saying.
