The manhunt for the two men responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attack and slaying of 12 people in Paris is intensifying with police sealing off the French village of Crepy-en-Valois.
The two suspects, Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, were spotted in the area after holding up a petrol station.
CNN reports that the wanted brothers held up a petrol station demanding food and petrol.
The manager of the petrol station said that the attackers fitted the description of the two men, and were heavily armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The area is now flooded with police, roadblocks and helicopters as they search for the fugitives. Hundreds of elite officers are combing nearby fields and woodland.
Earlier France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he feared the Islamist militants who killed 12 people could strike again.
The interior ministry in France has confirmed that seven people have been arrested in connection with the investigation so far, including 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad who turned himself in to police after seeing his name mentioned on social media.
The victims have now all been named:
- Economist and regular magazine columnist Bernard Maris, 68, known to readers as Uncle Bernard
- Cartoonist Georges Wolinski, 80.
- Cartoonist Jean “Cabu” Cabut, 76
- Charlie Hebdo editor and cartoonist Stephane “Charb” Charbonnier, 47.
- Cartoonists Bernard “Tignous” Verlhac, 57
- Cartoonist Philippe Honore, 73
- Mustapha Ourrad, proof-reader
- Elsa Cayat, psychoanalyst and columnist, the only woman killed
- Michel Renaud, who was visiting the offices.
- Frederic Boisseau, 42, caretaker, who was in the reception area at the time of the attack
- Police officer Franck Brinsolaro, who acted as Charb’s bodyguard.
- Police Officer Ahmed Merabet, 42, who was shot dead while on the ground. Ahmed Merabet, is being praised for his heroism.
Meanwhile there has been a second terror attack overnight this time a man dressed in black shot and killed a female police officer in the Paris suburb of Montrouge, after his vehicle was stopped for a check. Authorities are calling the Thursday morning ( local time) killing a terror attack, but have not connected it to Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo attack.
The policewoman who was killed has been named as Clarissa Jean-Philippe.
To read the details of the attack and its aftermath, see this post.
To read about the victims of the tragic attack, see this post.
Top Comments
It is so sad to hear about these nasty killings!