Negotiations Underway with Paris Massacre Suspects in Hostage Standoff
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Cherif Kouachi (L) and Said Kouachi (R). (Prefecture de Police)(DAMMARTIN-EN-GOELE, France) — Negotiations are underway in a hostage standoff with the suspected gunmen in Wednesday’s massacre at a French satirical newspaper office, authorities told ABC News.
The suspects are holed up in an industrial building in a town northeast of Paris, taking one male employee hostage, said Audrey Taupenas, a spokeswoman for Dammartin-en-Goele City Hall.
A major operation to detain the suspects, identified by officials as French citizens Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, is underway in the village, which is located about 20 miles northeast of Paris and near the Charles de Gaulle airport. Helicopters and hundreds of security forces backed by ambulances swarmed the town, and French special forces could be seen on a nearby rooftop.
French President Hollande, speaking Friday at the interior ministry, said French authorities have foiled several plots to carry out terrorist attacks in France in past few months.
Two runways at Charles de Gaulle airport were closed to arrivals Friday to avoid interference in the standoff, an airport spokesman said.
Town officials posted a message online instructing residents to shelter in place.
“If you live in the town stay in your home. Children in schools are in lockdown,” the statement reads.
About 900 people are trapped in a nearby high school.
“They say to us to stay in the high school and be calm, but we can’t because we are really scared,” teacher Marianne Genet said.
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Two assailants went inside the offices of Charlie Hebdo and listed off the names of their targets before shooting them execution-style, Paris Deputy Mayor Patrick Klugman told ABC News Wednesday. A third man was waiting outside the building, he said.
After the shooting, more than a thousand troops were deployed on the streets of France as part of the country’s heightened state of alert.
France’s president, speaking Wednesday, called the attack a “terrorist operation.”
[PHOTOS: MANHUNT FOR CHARLIE HEBDO SHOOTING SUSPECTS]
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