>> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. ♪ >> you are watching al jazeera, i'm david foster and we have the very latest of what has been a dramatic few hours in france and ending in the deaths of a number of hostage takes. the french police killing the two brothers suspected to be the attackers of the magazine charlie hebdo. and police storming a supermarket where a man was holding a number of hostages. the hostage taker was killed along with a number of the hostages. ♪ well that's the the -- headliner.

the details involving these two incidents, first up the two brothers suspected of the attack on the satirical mag charlie hebdo have been killed in a gun fight with security forces. five people were then killed at a jewish supermarket at a place called porte de vincennes in the east of paris. >> reporter: french special forces moved in on sharif and said kouachi's position in dammartin at around 5:00 local time. distant camera positions picked up the sound of the assault. [ gunfire ] [ explosion ] >> reporter: wisps of smoke rose above the printing company where the two brothers had hulled up all day, and eyewitnesss saw ambulances rushing to the scene. security sources say the two

suspects in the charlie hebdo shooting were killed in the operation, their single hostage has been released unharmed. 15 minutes later in porte de vincennes in eastern paris five or six large explosions were heard at the second siege a supermarket. here a man named amedy coulibaly has taken up to five host -- hostages and threatened to kill them if police moved in on the kouachi brothers. >> we go to our correspondent lawrence lee who is near dammartin. interesting in as much only really lawrence that it was pretty close to one of the world's busiest airports and

where all of this happened. what is going on there now? >> reporter: well it's a over and the last thing we heard before we left the scene was a convoy of buses and police vehicles leaving. and you could hear cheering and it was the people cheering. the siege of the town has been clearly lifted as well and what has become i think the more likely story over the last hour or so remember when you were talking to the sas officer to say how brave it was of them for the police to launch an assault on the complex before dark that may not now have been what happened. there have been a variety of reports saying that the brothers came out shooting.

and that would explain why the whole thing happened surprisingly early against the expectation of most people that the building would be stormed in the middle of the night. as tragic as the event was in paris, this one i would say, the authorities are probably 95% satisfied with the outcome, hostage unharmed gunmen dead. situation back to normal. the only thing i think they might be disappointed about is that the two men are not alive because they would like to have gotten information out of them. but i suppose it was only to be expected that this was the eventual outcome. >> this was something i was just going to bring up with you. several hours before all of this

happened, the police or some sources close to the police were suggesting that these men did want to go down in a blaze of glory as they saw it but for a long time it was suggested that the authorities were in touch with them. because of little bits and pieces of information coming out of them all of the time. >> yes, and one of the things that the authorities were trying not to happen was for the brothers to be in contact with the other hostage taker in paris, and at one point it was reported that one of the demands was that these brothers be set free unless -- or he was going to start killing hostages there and that line of come communication clearly was one thing they were trying to disrupt. they did try to speak to the hostage takers here the brothers i don't think would have gone very far, because for

them it was a more glorious thing to die fighting than -- than to give in. >> what do you know about the poor person's who's day was interrupted by these two hostage takers and who thankfully managed to get out. small businessman? just runs a small business in a sleepy little town >> reporter: sounds like it. he was apparently the manager. he must be counting his lucky stars tonight. when we drove through several hours ago now it seems, we drove in with the police through dammartin, and all of the buildings were shuttered. there was an odd little gaggle of people in the center of the town. and then you got further on to where the school was, which was shuttered. we saw pictures of buses waiting to take these children away

because the worst nightmare surely would have been the gunmen to try to take the children hostage. they got as many people or locked in their houses as they could, and isolated them in this area. in the end it was a poor decision by the gunman they might have been chased by the police but they put themselves in a trap really of their own making inside this small office in an industrial park outside of a small town with fields all around them with nowhere to go. it was a trap of their own making and they had nowhere left to run. by all accounts this morning, they were headed down the motorway back into paris. so it was very good they got them when they did. because had they got into paris it's anybody's guess what could have happen. >> thank you.

that was lawrence lee. and the other incident was in a place called porte de vincennes, a suberb in the east of the french capitol. rory challands our man there. let's go back to the beginning, because this didn't happen until several hours after the incident we were talking to lawrence about. this one didn't happen until several hours later, but there is a possible link between these two. >> reporter: yeah, the police have been talking about some sort of link between the hostage taker here in porte de vincennes and the kouachi brothers. they haven't said what that link is. they haven't said whether it was a direct relationship or a friendship or anything like that or just a similarity of aims or same lairty of motives and sympathies. one thing that did point to a

link was several hours into the hostage situation here the police released information that they say the hostage taker had been talking to them and saying if armed police moved against the brothers then the hostage taker here would start shooting executing his hostages. so that meant that the police at least had to deal with these two different siege situations as a whole really because they were connected to each other, cause illy linked if something happened to one of them then something else was likely to happen in the other. so if the two brothers came out shooting, it was only a matter of minutes, really before the police were forced into doing something in the east. and that's indeed what happened. when the shooting started with the kouachi brothers about ten minutes later, there were about

four very loud bangs that reverberate around the area and then followed by another loud bang about a minute afterwards. it was that that signaled the police were moving in and trying to free the hostages. most got out, but it seems about four of them died. >> what about the women associated with the man that took the hostages at the supermarket. we can see her there. what about her? >> reporter: well that is the big question mark. hayat boumeddiene, who is she, and where is she more specifically? as the hostage situation here was unfolding, the police released two photographs of two people and their names, am am -- amedy coulibaly and hayat boumeddiene, a woman thought to

be the hostage taker's girlfriend. the two of them were linked to the shooting yesterday of two police officers one of the police officers died a woman, and it's believed that this lady hayat boumeddiene, was in some way connected to that and may also have been connected to this hostage situation in porte de vincennes. but we don't really know much more than that and certainly at the moment we don't know where she is. >> rory thank you very much indeed. yes, so the question is whether is the woman you saw on the right of the picture. let's try to wrap-up the bigger picture with jacky rowland who has been running our france bureau for a number of years, and we're expecting, i think to hear once again from francois hollande in the next 40 minutes or so? >> we are indeed yes. the president has addressed the

nation on a number of occasions as the crisis as unfolded in recent days and we're expecting to hear from him again certain i will within the next hour. we're expecting him to congratulate the security forces on bringing these two sieges to a swift conclusion even though there was quite a high loss of life. the president as well will be aware that in the coming days he is going to come under scrutiny. >> jacky you mentioned a statement had been read out by the interior minister. i understand we can see him now. let's hear what he has got to say. >> translator: under the paris prosecutor, i wanted to express my gratitude to those that exposed themselves at their own risk to ensure in technically difficult conditions

operationally complicated for the saving of hostages that have been kept in difficult, oppressive conditions by terrorists. i wish to express my deep gratitude and recognition to these policemen of the ministry of the interior with exceptional skill and coolness that ensured the hostages to be freed during a great risk with great courage and professionalism, and i wish to express the recognition of all french people of the whole nation which is tonight relieved. i also would like to express my great recognition to the policemen of the special unit who intervene at dammartin in

conditions that were extremely difficult under the authority of the general, and colonel commander. i also want to express my deep recognition for the paris firemen who right from the start of these tragic events were present to ensure the -- for saving -- i would like to -- to the people i would like to thank the emergency services that ensured the success of the operation, whilst expressing my gratitude to all of the different departments and services, i would also like to say that we remain extremely mobilized in an unprecedented situation to ensure the safety of all french people on french

soil. the events that took place show the extent of the challenge with which we are faced and the violence of which the terrorists are capable. it is because we are aware of the extent of the challenge -- of this challenge, and over the last few months we have taken anti-terrorism laws by giving our forces in relation with our european partners to be more effective in the fight against terrorism. i -- on sunday i will be having a meeting with my colleagues of the european union and of the united states and i invited them to come to paris to draw the conclusions to recent events because we have the obligation to be -- we have the permanent

obligation to face up to these grave serious challenges. vigilance to protect all french people such is our duty and our task and we intend to accomplish it to fulfill it with our police forces which are very highly competent, and i wish to recognize the great work that they've done today and to neutralize the dangerous terrorists. i will speak later. there are investigations in progress. there is more information coming through, and as you know since the start of this crisis i have never expressed myself without information from the legal authorities, and that's our duty in the context in which we must

be truthful to french people and we must give them information that is totally very viable and accurate. thank you very much. >> the french interior minister there. and i interrupted you jacky rowland as he began speaking. did you hear anything that you think is of interest to us all? >> i had of course heard him speak before because he is in the same location he has just been looking in more detail in the aftermath of what happened and talking to those special forces involved in the operation. he did -- i heard him previously when he was talking to the cameras before he went in. and he really was just flushing out more of what he said then. obviously commanding the professionalism of the offices involved but also as well talking about the need to remain

vigilant the fact that just because this situation is over that everybody is safe. and the buck stops with him when it comes to guaranteeing security. i think this is a theme we hear again and again in the coming days. it will be interesting to hear what president hollande says when he addresses the nation. and european ministers are going to come and discuss the extent to which there might be a common threat to all of the countries in europe particularly those which allow freedom of movement without pass ports -- without border controls between the countries. obviously freedom of movement for law-abiding citizens and particularly dangerous for people who might want to cross

borders for nefarious purposes. so it will be a question of how you balance on the one side freedoms freedom of expression and movement with security and the extent to which people will accept that sometimes freedoms may have to be curtailed in order to ensure security. >> yeah and then there's the question in which an lawful lot of people involved in situations such as this ask the question why me? and we're not just talking about those people who are taken hostage, but possibly the nation as a whole, saying why us? why the french people? why are we being singled out? and the question to ask is whether in fact it is an historical situation, or something to do with the policies this particular administration may be following. >> reporter: it's difficult to

say, of course those crucial elements of the jigsaw possible testimonies, possible statements that might have been made under interrogation by the kouachi brothers and amedy coulibaly -- those are never going to be heard, because the three perpetrators of those attacks didn't survive the resolution of that hostage situation, so all we can really do is look at their backgrounds, and we have been watching a report during the last hours by my colleague phil lavelle who has been looking at the background particularly of the kouachi brothers the extent to which they have become radicalized, and in the case of one of the brothers going to participate in a training camp overseas. i think what we'll be looking at some of the issues to consider is the alienation of young people. second and third generation immigrant communities here

people who maybe feel that they don't belong that they don't feel france is doing anything for them. and it's partly a function of the economy. obviously the euro zone has been in crisis and there is not job creation. if people are able to earn a living and have dignity to provide for their family people feel they have more at stake in society. instead you have young people fester festering, and people feeling what is france doing for us? and of course they are seeing images on television of fighting in syria and iraq also the operation of french forces and other western forces in countries such as afghanistan. there are a lot offet -- poe

offet -- poe -- poe ten shall reasons. >> thank on a second jacky because we're going to leave paris and go to yemen, and you might won't to throw in a few moment comments at the end of this. as we see omar on our screen. jacky was talking about the interest that some of those people may have had in other countries, and it has been suggested that one of the suspects, you will tell me which one got training from al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, considered by some to be al-qaeda's most dangerous offshoot anywhere in the world at the moment. what did he do? and what do they know about it there, the officials? >> reporter: well the yemeni intelligence agency confirmed that said kouachi was present in the country in 2011.

he -- he joined al-qaeda in arabian peninsula, stayed for a while and fought with them. that same official did say that said kouachi was deported at some point. the official said that his agency and his offices are trying to gather more information, and he said he will come back to us. >> okay. omar i will leave it there with you at the moment because i think it's important now to go to jacky once again. omar saying there that said kouachi, the one on the right with the beard, that he was deported from yemen, that he trained with al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. he has fought with them but that he had been deported from

yemen. when somebody is deported and sent back to their home country, presumably the authorities there are told. so what is the french stance on this? >> reporter: of course there are questioning being asked, we're talking about someone who went overseas to train in an al-qaeda camp in yemen and then came back to france again. there have been questions about how could somebody like this just re-enter french society. and questions about the younger brother as well who had previously been convicted and imprisoned for trying to recruit fighters to go to iraq so these were two brothers on whom the intelligence agencies had a lot of intelligence about previous activities to deal with fighting wars overseas but these are just two examples and

but the reason i think this story is not finished is these are just two examples names we know now. the question the authorities and security and intelligence services are how many more kouachis are out there. there has been a recurrent theme in france this concern about young people who have gone to fight jihad overseas and come back radicallized. estimates put the number of young french people many of whom are of heritage with grandparents or parents who came to france from north africa for example, and these people who have gone to fight overseas and this concern about them coming back radicalized and carrying out attacks on french territory. this is a danger that has been

evoked publicly by politicians, including francois hollande. it is a problem that has been very much to everyone's front doorstep. so what we're going to be seeing now, is i think more of the kinds of raids that we have seen in recent weeks, and as authorities start to look at the records of people returning, whether deported or otherwise, trying to track who are those people. obviously key evidence lost with the death of the hostage takers today, but there is a lot of intelligence out there, and all of the people are going to have to be scrutinized as the security forces try to head off other possible attacks like

this. >> okay. that's jacky rowland in our paris bureau. we have also heard from our correspondent on the streets in the eastern part of the french capitol and from our correspondent up there to the north of paris where those two sieges have been taking place, and where those two sieges have now ended with the death of the two hostage takers. we're going to take a short breath catch our breath and make some sense out of everything we have been hearing. we'll be back on this news hour in just a couple of minutes. ♪

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on charlie hebdo have been killed. the hostage they held for hours survived the assault. in porte de vincennes police stormed a jury supermarket. the hostage taker killed by police and four hostages also died in the operation. what about the french special security forces who stormed those two places they are known as the bri, an elite police unit with more than 100 officers. they are called in during crises, and they are also trained hostage negotiators. our robin has been with us for a few hours now, officer of the british army the sas, and took part in the iranian embassy

siege in 1980, one of the best-remembered endings to a hostage crisis that we have seen. when you saw this going down did you think there was any other way it could have ended? >> there are always other options, but the most likely scenario was these men were going to end up dead. we now know that they triggered the action that the special force had to take in order to commit suicide. it doesn't appear that after they carried out their assault in paris that they really planned a get away it looks as though they looked to die soon afterwards. they then holed up and decided they would carry out their suicide tack and that suicide attack triggered the decision to carry out the assault in paris probably earlier than they would have liked.

>> this is what is often referred to as death by cop, isn't it? where somebody runs out of a building and if they are waving a weapon there is every chance they will end up dying as a result. what makes you think it was this rather than the forces went in and took them out because they were a danger to the hostages they were holding. >> based on the information we have received in the last hour and the evaluation of the gunfire that took place, it does -- it does appear that there were a long series of single shots as they came out of the building. bang bang bang bang bang bang bang and that's people firing single shots as your journalist lawrence said and, you know, the picture starts to come together more accurately when you take that scenario into account. the police killed them and it's fortunate that they left their hostage live inside but they

did choose their targets as part of the security forces. it didn't look as if these two individuals wanted to actually kill anybody that wasn't associated with the security forces and the government. >> well, except for those cartoonists that we saw killed on wednesday, but let's get back to the pictures we're still looking at now. first of all, robin, we saw smoke, then we heard a crump, more smoke, and then -- that's the gunfire you are talking about, which becomes more rapid in a little while, but then there's a flash in just a moment so more than one explosion inside and quite a lot of smoke. what would that have been all about? there's the flash. >> yeah there were two flashes of that nature and it will be interesting to discover exactly

what they were. were they grenades thrown by though hostage takers or were they pyrotechnics used by the security forces? it's just down to speculation exactly what they were but the information we have received from the police is the situation was triggered by these two hostage takers coming out of the building and opening fire. the smoke, the explosions we'll find out what they were later and how they fit into the situation. >> okay. let's imagine this picture, those that are old enough to remember the butch cassidy film where they come running out and know they are going to get cut down in a hail of bullets. if these two brothers ran out of the building and the security forces felt they had no option but to shoot them and to kill them who would have been throwing stun grenades at that

particular point? if it were to be stun grenades? >> yeah it doesn't fit a scenario i'm familiar with. i don't know is the simple answer. i don't think anybody does right at this particular point in time. it -- it seems to have come to a good conclusion in that particular setting. they have come away with a live hostage and two dead terrorists. >> in paris the hostages died there, and we can see more of what went down because we see flash bangs, we see security forces going in and we can hear gunfire there, what is your take on what we saw? >> well again, it looks here like they have been -- they have had this situation thrust upon them at sport notice, because the situation was triggered in

dammartin, the authorities had to make a decision to go quickly. it was something they have had to do suddenly and they have gone in and made the best of a bad situation, and sadly people died, but that's the fault of the hostage taker. >> robin, i don't suppose i'll get much of a chance to talk to you again on this program, because i'm off in about 20 minutes, but appreciate it very much. it has been good to get your take on the events in france. >> thank you very much. what do we know about the two brothers, one hostage taker died one in which two died. they were the kouachi brothers a cured in the killing at charlie hebdo. >> these are two of the faces we have seen so much of. the two brothers, both french

nationals born to algearian parents orphaned as children. let's start with sharif he is the youngest. this was him ten years ago. an aspiring rapper with a criminal record. he met a man who he claims taught him about suicide bombers and martyrdom. sharif ended up on trial himself after missing a flight to the middle east. he was described in court as a reluctant holy warrior. nevertheless he was jailed for three years, served half of that sentence, and was arrested again in 2010, police subsequently learned he had been browsing jihadist websites but the case was dropped due to a lack of

evidence. let's take a look at this brother, said kouachi. he is the oldest at 34. he unwhitingly set the police on their trial by leaving his identity card in the getaway vehicle. he has been formally named by the police as the main attacker in wednesday's murders, but the authorities say in the past he was always only ever on the periphery of his younger brother's illegal activities. other than that very little has been revealed about it although it is believed he spent time in yemen in 2011 and there we met the late u.s. born al-qaeda preacher. clearly the authorities knew who these two men were. shar if in particular had that history with the police. and they were on two highly

classified security list in the u.s. even france the authorities had them under surveillance at one point. this is a direct quote from the prime minister. the questions now then two of them. first of all why was charlie hebdo so exposed when it was under threat? and why were two men known to be radicals followed and unfollowed when they were clearly a threat. we are joined now with the fbi chief negotiator for ten years. years. >> negotiators provide an accurate assessment of how the dialogue is going. are we calming them down in are they less threatening? do we think there's an

opportunity for them to make better decisions about the outcome? or conversely does their behavior and statements indicate to us that there's increasing risk increasing danger in which case it's a important we share that assessment with the onscene command authorities who may then opt to utilize rescue efforts to attempt to resolve the situation. >> we reported about 30 minutes before the first gunfire that we heard, and about five minutes later we heard the second explosion. we heard the hostage taker at the supermarket had said if there were an assault on the other hostage takers that he would begin killing his hostages at that point would you probably have thought we have to move pretty rapidly. >> i have to assume that the french authorities came to the conclusion that if they had to take tactical action against one

side whether it was deliberately planned and initiated or reaction to events taking place inside of a particular site that that would trigger simultaneous efforts at both sites. so that's not surprising that that was their thinking. >> those were the thoughts of the man who was in charge for some period of time of the fbi's negotiating when hostages were being held. back in france -- not in france but next door in germany, muslim religious leaders have been using friday prayers to condemn all of the attacks that have taken place in france. let's near from nay deem barber at a mosque in berlin. >> reporter: this mosque is one of many across germany where people coming for friday prayers have heard sermons directly addressing what happened in

france. the alarm here has been telling the congregation that that kind of violence has no basis in the quran or the teachings of the prophet muhammad. >> translator: you are in a face where there are people trying to instrew instrewalize what happened in paris to split society. we cannot let that happen. >> reporter: talking to the worshippers here it's clear they feel no connection to the people who carried out think paris attacks, but they have their own personal fears about what could happen next. >> translator: i think there will be revenge attacks and soet society will be divided. >> translator: since yesterday when i have been getting into the car with my child, i have been looking around to check if someone is throwing a stone at

me because i'm a foreigner. >> reporter: a survey that just came out here but was carried out in november suggests 61% of non-muslim germans are fearful of islam. clearly there are still tensions here and elsewhere in europe. but that is something the muslim leaders are trying to hard to diffuse. the events that began on wednesday have lead to a debate about who should be allowed access across the borders of europe to particular countries, france in this case in the leader of what is a far-right party, the french national front has been calling for a debate on what she calls islamic fundamentalism. >> translator: the french president assured me that a profound debate on the rise of islamic fundamentalism in our

country will take place, and that all political parties will be listened to regarding the necessary steps that need to be taken to ensure the security of the country and our people. the president assured me that my security will be guaranteed. and i thank him for that. but i will not go to demonstrations where obviously the organizers don't want to see us. i am educated. i don't want to go where they don't want me. >> reporter: now two sieges as we mentioned, first we're going to take a look at what lead up to the siege in dammartin-en-geole 40 kilometers north of paris. that ended with the two main suspects being killed by police. let's go back to wednesday, an attack on the satirical magazine charlie hebdo, the two gunmen were at large for almost 24

hours until they were spotted on thursday. the men reportedly robbing a petrol station. spool on 24 hours, and reports of a gunfire with police north of paris. police chasing the vehicle which they believed the kouachi brothers hijacked from a woman, and the chase ending in a small printing business in an industrial area of a small suburban dormitory town. hostage taken by the gunman apparently the manager of prikt -- print shop. lawrence law.

you saw it all happening. you were able to look through our camera lens and see not only the flash bangs, hear the grenades going off, and see the automatic fire but you saw [ inaudible ] down the building. it was a dramatic end and complete surprise. >> reporter: well it was a surprise in the sense that we had all assumed it was -- the building was to be stormed, classic tactic you heard your guest, david, the former sas officer talking about it earlier on the usual way of doing these things is in the middle of the night? there are a variety of different stun grenades and go in when they are the most tired and sleepy, and suddenly this happened just when it was getting dark. and we heard all of these things and run up the hill to our position but the whole thing as your guest said earlier on only

lasted 15 or 20 seconds before it was over and by the time we were looking we could see people going down the side of the building and suddenly within five or ten minutes of that, there were police dressed in black walking at ease outside of the perimeter of the buildings, and you could see that it was over. but what seems to have happened -- it had been assumed at the time that it stormed it the other suggestion that came out since then was that the two brothers came out fighting and they drew the fire at police who naturally enough through force of numbers and superior fire power killed them. the hostage escaped unhurt which was a great result from the police perspective, but that explanation would go a long way to explain why this happened still in daylight hours and not at nighttime. that it was started not by the authorities, but by the gunmen. >> and it all came to an end in

a tiny back water north of the capitol, who's biggest claim to fame until this time was it was near a big airport. >> yes, and i don't think there's any reason why the gunmen would have wanted to come here. the first indication that -- that police knew where they were was in the rush hour this morning, when -- when we were told of a chase going down the motorway this way, south, back behind the camera towards paris, and the fear was they were trying to get back into paris. potentially the theory goes to link up with the other gunman. but i think the suggestion now is they thought they couldn't get there, and they turned off of the motorway into this little town only 8,000 people but they cornered themselves putting themselves in this unit inside of an industrial park

right our on the edge of the town was really the worst thing they could havedown. only one road in or out through the town. the police immediately blocked it at both ends -- >> lawrence i'm going to ask you to stop because the french president is on tv. we'll listen to what he has to say. >> translator: two hostage takes which resulted in four dead. france has dealt with it i express my entire solidarity to the families the victims, to the injured. but france has faced up to it because when it is faced with a challenge, it's a tragedy for the nation and it's an obligation for us to deal with it. the assassins have been put out of action thanks to a double action, first of all in a warehouse in dammartin, and

another one in a kosher supermarket in porte de vincennes. i would like to greet the -- to thank the efficiency of the officials of the police and all of the parties that took part in this operation. i would like to say to them we are proud of them because when the order was given, they carried the action -- they succeeded with the same result. they did so to save the hostages, to save lives, to neutralize the terrorists those who had killed. but france even if it was aware of having faced up to it that it has available with the security forces men and women capable of great courage, france has not ended with the threats

of which it is the target so i want to call upon vigilance, unity, and mobilization. vigilance, it is up to the state to demonstrate it and with the prime minister i have further strengthened all of the means to protect our public places and to ensure that we can live peacefully without at anytime being able to be the target of a threat or a risk but we must be vigilant. i also call upon unity because i had expressed it before french people. it is our best weapon. unity means that we must show our determination to fight against anything -- everybody that can divide us and to be -- not give in at all to

anti-semitism, because today in a kosher supermarket, it was a terrible act that was committed. not to be divided means we must not refuse -- avoid any raising of the stakes. the people that committed these acts these fanatics have got nothing to do with the muslim religion. finally we must mobilize ourselveses. we have to deal with threats committed through force, we have to use it. but also through solidarity the solidarity we must show all the efficiency that we can. we must never give in to any pressure never show fear because we have an ideal which is greater than us and capable of defending it.

i would like to welcome -- thank our soldiers in dealing with terrorism. the heads of state and government of the whole world wanted to express and show their solidarity. several have informed me that they will be there during the great gathering on sunday. i will be there with them and i call upon all french men and women to rise on sunday together and to bare these values of pluralism, democracy, and liberty, to which we're all attached and which europe represents. and we will come out of this even stronger. long live the -- republic, long live france. >> okay. that was the french president

francois hollande ending rather abruptly i thought, praising all of those involved in what has been an extrordanaire few days for the people of france and the security services. i don't know if we're going to be able to talk to our paris bureau chief jacky rowland that will come in a couple of minutes. yeah let's go to lawrence lee who has been watching events unfold. okay. it's one of those moments where neither lawrence lee or jacky is there. i'm going to go through some of the events we have seen unfold. we have got the pictures of the way a siege ended in a small dormitory town where the two brothers accused of the shooting found themselves cornered. automatic fire.

a few flashes of light and smoke coming from the building followed by the announcement that the two brothers the kouachi brothers had been killed. there you saw the flash, that they had been killed and that the one hostage they had taken, the manager of the small print shop where they spent at least six hours -- that he had escaped unharmed. so the two attackers, the two hostage takers dying there, the men blamed for the attack on the satirical magazine on wednesday. another man said to have associated with them had a few hours after they appeared in this place, has gone to a jewish supermarket where he took a number of people hostage.

he and his partner, the women on the left it is believed had been involved in the shooting 24 hours earlier where one police officer died. he went into this supermarket, taking a number of hostages and shortly after the events we saw in dammartin, the security services going in there. another flash, another bang the sound of automatic gunfire, and that hostage taker, we were told also dead so three hostage takers dead but unlike in the first incident involving the two brothers, not everybody inside that place so lucky, as the man to get away from those two brothers. four of the hostages had died -- at least four died in that siege at the kosher supermarket. so both of those sieges over. the woman you saw in that

picture, still at large, or perhapsed involved in that siege and deed. we will try to answer those questions here on al jazeera.

two hostage sieges come to a dramatic end in france. five are killed at a jewish supermarket in paris. just minutes earlier police shot dead two brothers wanted over the attack on the satirical mag charlie hebdo. ♪ hello, you are watching al jazeera live from london. we have the very latest on the breaking news from france including a national address by president francois hollande who thanked security forces for ending the day's long crisis. ♪