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Flash bang explosions and gunshots inside a French printing shop signaled the end of an intense manhunt for 2 brothers who are suspected in the murders of 12 people at a satire magazine office in Paris, France.
Said and Cherif Kouachi, 33 and 32 respectively, took a hostage at a printing shop in a town near the Belgium border in northeast France Friday morning. After a tense standoff between the heavily armed suspects and hundreds of French police, gunshots and flash bang grenades were heard.
Moments later, the French Mayor confirmed to CNN that the brothers were dead and the hostage was safe.
The Kouachi brothers reportedly spoke with a policeman and told him they wanted to die as martyrs.
In a separate but linked hostage situation in Paris, 2 terrorists — a black male and a Caucasian female — held hostages at a Kosher grocery. That hostage incident also ended with gunshots and explosions. It is not clear if the suspects are dead, but injuries have been confirmed. Police were seen escorting hostages from the grocery. Numerous ambulances were seen taking the wounded away from the grocery.
The male and female terrorists are believed to be involved in the ambush shooting death of a French policewoman who was directing traffic in Paris on Thursday.
UPDATE: Authorities say 4 hostages lost their lives during a police standoff at a Paris Kosher supermarket. French officials confirm the African male hostage taker is dead. His 26-year-old female companion escaped along with hostages amid the confusion of the furious gun battle between the police and the hostage taker.
