Gunman 'Neutralized' At Kosher Supermarket Siege

The siege at a kosher grocery in Porte de Vincennes has reportedly ended, with French security source saying that the hostage-taker has been "neutralised". Le Monde newspaper has said that the man killed is Amedy Coulibaly - a suspect in the shooting of a policewoman yesterday in Paris.

Several explosions were heard, as well as gunfire and Sky News showed footage of a huge amount of police activity in the area minutes after, with ambulances and police vans arriving.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) have said that several of those hostages have now been freed although a police source has said that four hostages were killed.

Police hacked into CCTV and also received information from employees in the building who managed to use their phones.

The BBC have reported that at least two people were killed earlier in a shooting the grocery store which is in eastern Paris according to a police officer at the scene.

However, Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister denied this.

Associate Press (AP) reported that the hostage taker said he would kill hostages if French police stormed the building where the Kourachi brothers, responsible for Wednesday’s attack on Charlie Hebdo, were holed up in an industrial area near Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris.

France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor had earlier confirmed that an armed man had taken at least five people hostage in the grocery, which is called Hyper Cacher. Police blocked off the roads near the shop, and surrounded the building. Nearby school were put into lockdown.

AP also reported that the police ordered all the other shops in the Porte de Vincennes area to close, in light of the siege.

Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister issued a statement saying that the attacks in Paris “are not just against the French people or French Jews, they’re against the entire free world. “This is another attempt by the dark forces of radical Islam to unleash horror and terror on the West. The entire international community must stand strong and determined in the face of this terror.”

Police surround Paris supermarket where gunman reported to be holding hostage http://t.co/jMOZXPaSOJ#CharlieHebdopic.twitter.com/ab3Na0ciH7

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) January 9, 2015

It’s believed that the gunman was the same one who was involved in the fatal shooting of Clarissa Jean-Philippe - the policewoman who was killed on Thursday morning in the city.

The police released the names and mugshots of a man and women who are wanted in connection with that shooting.

They have been named as Amedy Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene and the French police have warned that they are dangerous and possibly armed. According to BFM TV the gunmen said to police “You know who I am”.

The president of the synagogue in Vincennes had said authorities had informed him that there were between five and eight people being held hostage in the shop.

One witness spoke to RTL radio this morning saying: "I can see the police in front of the grocery. One of them has a megaphone and is ordering people away from the scene. There are no cars on the roads - they have all been stopped."

French newspaper Le Figaro reported that Bernard Cazeneuve had made his way to the scene while Elysee’s Twitter account published a photo of French president Francois Hollande overseeing both operations from a situation room on Friday morning.

A picture was posted on Twitter which supposedly showed the siege unfolding:

Face à #hypercasherà #saintmandepic.twitter.com/iYYr3NxanO

— david_dlr (@daviddlr) January 9, 2015

On Friday morning French police had said that they were officially linking yesterday’s shooting with the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine, saying that the gunman, who fled the scene, was from the same jihadist group as the Kourachi brothers. It's now believed that the brothers have been killed after police stormed the building where they were. 

This is a developing news story and will be updated throughout the day.