French president warns of more attacks

UPDATE: French officials have confirmed at least four hostages died in a kosher market in Paris taken over by a terrorist who claimed affiliation with the Islamic State. Security forces stormed the building, ending the standoff and killing Amedy Coulibaly earlier today. It is not yet clear whether the hostages died during the raid or were killed by Coulibaly beforehand. Fifteen hostages survived.

Officials have not said what happened to Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, the woman suspected of helping Coulibaly orchestrate the attack. Initial reports indicated she escaped with hostages who ran out of the building after the shooting stopped.

During the siege, Coulibaly spoke to a French television station and claimed affiliation with the Islamic terrorists trying to establish a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Cherif Kouachi, who along with his brother Said held another hostage in a standoff with police north of the city, also spoke with the television station, telling reporters the pair were financed and dispatched by al-Qaeda in Yemen. Yemeni officials earlier in the day said Said Kouachi spent time in the country and was suspected of fighting with al-Qaeda there. Cherif Kouachi was convicted in 2008 of working with a group sending jihadis to fight U.S. forces in Iraq.

But French President Francois Hollande downplayed the connections to Islam, calling the three terrorists “fanatics who have nothing to do with the Islamic religion.” He also warned of additional attacks.

“The threats facing France are not finished,” he said. “We must be vigilant.”

The Kouachi brothers attacked the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Thursday, killing 12 journalists. The newspaper was known for lampooning Islam and the prophet Mohamed.

UPDATE (12:30 p.m. EST): Police officials say at least four people, including the gunman, died during the hostage standoff at a kosher market in Paris. At least 10 hostages reportedly escaped. But so did Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, the woman suspected of helping Amedy Coulibaly orchestrate the attack. Coulibaly had threatened to kill hostages if police stormed the building on the outskirts of Paris where his two friends, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, were holding a hostage of their own. But the Kouachis came out voluntarily, firing on police, who killed them. The brothers reportedly told negotiators they wanted to die as martyrs.

UPDATE (12 p.m. EST): All three terrorists holding hostages at two sites in and around Paris are dead, a security official told French media. The two brothers suspected of killing 12 people on Thursday at the offices of weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo came out of their hiding place with guns blazing, the official said. Officers returned fire and killed them.

Almost simultaneously, police stormed the kosher market in Paris where one of the brothers’ associates was holding at least five people. He also died in the attack. It’s not clear yet whether all the hostages made it out alive.

UPDATE (11:30 a.m. EST): French police stormed both sites where suspected terrorists had taken hostages. The two brothers accused of shooting up the offices of newspaper Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people on Thursday, are dead. The hostage they were holding was freed, unharmed. It is not yet clear whether police killed or captured the man holding hostages at a kosher market, but officers were seen leaving the building with what appeared to be several hostages.

UPDATE (11:15 a.m. EST): Explosions and gunfire have been heard at both sites where suspected terrorists have taken hostages in and near Paris. Police in SWAT gear have been spotted on the roof of the industrial building in a village northeast of the city, where two brothers suspected of killing 12 people yesterday have been holed up for most of today.

UPDATE (10:30 a.m. EST): French investigators have identified two people believed to be holding hostages at a kosher market in eastern Paris.

Amedy Coulibaly, is suspected of shooting Paris Police Officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe yesterday and is thought to have ties to the two brothers who killed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper office. Police have named Hayat Boumeddiene, a woman, as the second suspect holding as many as five hostages at the market.

Coulibaly has threatened to kill the hostages he’s holding if police try to launch an assault on Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, who have one hostage and are holed up in a village to the northeast of Paris.

As a precaution, officials closed all shops in a famed Jewish neighborhood in central Paris, although it’s far from the two hostage situations. The forced closure could indicate police can’t rule out the possibility of other attacks.

Meanwhile, two officials in Yemen told the Associated Press that Said Kouachi is suspected of fighting for al-Qaeda in the Middle East. He was in Yemen until 2012, according to one official.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9:25 a.m. EST): Terrorists, including two suspects in Wednesday’s attack on a French newspaper office, are involved in two separate standoffs with police around Paris. At a printing plant northeast of Paris, authorities have surrounded Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, brothers whom police accuse of killing 12 people at the offices of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo earlier this week. The brothers reportedly have one hostage.

Hours after that confrontation began, another gunman took an unknown number of hostages and killed at least two people at a kosher market in eastern Paris. Unnamed sources with the police in Paris have said the second hostage situation is linked to the Charlie Hebdo attack and possibly to the shooting of a police officer in Paris on Thursday.

The Kouachi brothers have reportedly told negotiators they want to die as martyrs. They agreed to allow safe passage for children at a nearby school to evacuate the area. The brothers are known Islamists who were on the United States “no-fly list” of possible terrorists. Said Kouachi had traveled to Yemen and possibly had contact with al-Qaeda there, while Cherif Kouachi was convicted in 2008 for working to send jihadis to fight American forces in Iraq.

Louis Zenon, a 14-year-old who lives close to siege site, said nearby residents have shut themselves in their homes and closed the shutters as helicopters hover overhead.

“There is a lot of fear,” he said. “We’re scared. The schools are being evacuated.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.