The Paris Hostage Situations

January 8, 2015 

As I am sure many of you know, there are two hostage situations taking place outside Paris involving at least three terrorists involving in the attack two days ago on the Paris editorial offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the killing a few hours later of a French policewoman in a southern suburb of Paris. 

According to the latest reporting from the scene, the two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo attack, Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his brother Said Kouachi, 34, are currently holed up in the office of a family-owned commercial printing company in the town of in the town Dammartin-en-Goële 26 miles northeaewst of Paris near Charles de Gaulle airport. Press reporting indicates that they are holding at least one male hostage, although it is entirely possible that they are holding more. 

FRENCH POLICE/AFP/Getty Images Suspects Cherif Kouachi (left), aged 32, and his brother Said Kouachi (right), aged 34, are wanted in connection with an attack at a satirical weekly in the French capital that killed at least 12 people. The pair took a hostage in a printing company’s warehouse Friday. 

The second hostage situation is taking place at a Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris, where a 36 year old man named Amedy Coulibaly is reportedly holding at least six hostages. The latest news reports from Agence France-Presse indicate that perhaps as many as two people have been killed in this standoff, but the French Interior Ministry has denied this report. 

A French prosecutor stated this afternoon (it is almost 4:00 p.m. Paris time at the time of this writing) that Coulibaly, who is wanted for the killing of a French policewoman in the Paris suburb of Montrouge two days ago, apparently knows both of the Kouachi brothers well. Coulibaly was arrested in 2010 for participating in an attempted jail break in 2003 of a terrorist leader and sentenced to a five year prison sentence. 

In connection with Coulibaly, the French police are currently looking for a 26 year old Frenchwoman of Algerian extraction named Hayat Boumeddiene, who is Coulibaly’s girlfriend. Boumedienne is suspected of having taken part in the killing of the French policewomen two days ago. So far, there is no indication in the available reporting that Boumeddiene is involved in the current hostage situation currently taking place in eastern Paris.A photograph of both suspects was posted online by the French police.