>> you're watching al jazeera. let's bring you up to date with the breaking news out of france. two brothers wanted over the attack on satirical french magazine "charlie hebdo" have been killed northeast of paris. just minutes later, officer raided a jewish supermarket in eastern paris. the scene of another hostage crisis. the gunman there was killed. four of his hostages also died. that man was wanted for gunning

down a policewoman on thursday. laurence lee reports now from northeast of paris where the hunt for the "charlie hebdo" suspects came to a violent end. >> reporter: when it ended it was quick and much earlier that many expected. flashes, the sound of automatic gunfire, and then silence. in all the standoff lasted no more than than 15 to 20 seconds but it left the brothers dead accused of "charlie hebdo" massacre. the standoff lasted the whole day. during rush hour in the morning we saw lines of police vans tearing up the motorway north of paris and into the small town. a helicopter ambulance flew

there. rumors emerged later disproved that the gunman shot someone dead during a police chase. what was clear was the suspect in the "charlie hebdo" massacre was holed up inside an industrial complex along with a hostage. we drove through demmartin with the police. past shuttered homes and businesses and just the occasional person outside in a community under lockdown. lines of buses could be seen waiting to take children away from an evacuated school. had the gunmen taken children hostage, it would have been an absolute nightmare for the authority, one they had to avoid at any cost. >> translator: i hope the children are not shocked or anything else because we're really anxious as parents. >> translator: there were a lot of police and they need today me i needed to go in immediately and stay indoors. >> reporter: day turned to desk.

it was assumed the building might be stormed in the darkness, but the gunmen had nowhere left to run. special forces could be seen on the roof. this was the end game. the kouachi brothers imagined to evade the law for two full days and took hundreds of police officers and soldiers cornering them in here to bring it a conclusion. in an ideal world, no doubt the police would have wanted to take them alive rather than dead but for all of that and given how dangerous they were the authorities will probably see this as pretty much as good an outcome they might have expected. within minutes of it ending police could see them walking at ease inside the perimeter. helicopters circled and landed but there were no casualties other than the dead gunmen. laurence lee, al jazeera, dammartin in france. >> officials in yemen said one of the brothers fought with al qaeda in their country four years ago before being deported.

let's bring in our reporter in sanaa, yemen. what more do we know about this? officer >> reporter: an intelligence officer said said kouachi joined in 2011 and joined the ranks of al qaeda and fought with them at some point. he was deported. that official said his officers are trying to gather more information, and they will declare at a later stage with the media. other reports from other news agency do suggest that said kouachi actually remained for a number of months and then he left yemen. the circumstances are not clear, but at this stage this is what we really know. >> so omar this obviously isn't the time of perpetrators of global attacks have been linked to yemen.

>> reporter: that's right. let me read you a number of attacks, the most prominent of them is the christmas day bombing attempt. that was an attempt by a nigerian man. he spent some sometime studying the arabic language in yemen. he was caught trying to detonate the northwest airline going to the u.s. he hid his explosives in his underwear. another attempt in 2010 if you remember when a cargo plane was found. they found -- security agencies found some containers with bombs originating from yemen and heading towards the u.s. it's clear that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is trying or having trying on a number of occasions to carry out a global

attack, if you will. however, we need to say that at this stage with regard to the paris attack they didn't claim responsibility yet. >> omar with the latest there from the yemeni capital. thank you. let's go back to rory now in eastern paris. rory you are near that kosher supermarket where there was another hostage-taking situation. the hostage-taker killed but another one was named, hayat boumeddiene, presumably assumed to be his accomplice. what do we know about her, and i guess we obviously don't know where she is. >> reporter: no and that's the big question. police definitely want to track down this woman. the first that we knew of her and of her name was when the police earlier on today about an hour after the hostage situation developed here in eastern paris

released two names and two photos as well. the names were amedy coulibaly, the suspect believed to be killed in the hostage situation here in eastern paris, and that woman, hayat boumeddiene. now, it's believed that she is amedy's girlfriend and the two were also wanted in connection with the shooting of two police officers yesterday. a shooting in which one police officer, a woman, lost her life. now, it's not known quite how closely she was involved in that shooting or indeed how closely she was involved in this hostage-taking situation in portede vincennes. they think she might have answers to "questions they have and feel she could be

potentially dangerous as well. >> all eyes are focused on the kouachi brothers about 40 kilometers north of paris near the charles degault airport. what's the atmosphere like there now? >> reporter: well as you can see, the roads that i have been standing or for most of the afternoon is a functioning road again. the siege is over and the hostage-taker is dead and the sort of port mortem begins into what happened. about an hour ago the police brought down a massive flood light truck which i assume they have taken down to outside the supermarket and are using it to illuminate the scene. they can go over it with forensics and piece together what happened inside and exactly the circumstances of the storming at the supermarket and

the freeing of most of the hostages. you say this is where most of the fatalities occurred. that's because that's where most of the hostages were where the kouachi brothers were. they only had one person captive here, and it's believed that there were between 10 15 20 hostages in that supermarket. most of them made it out alive, though some unfortunately didn't. so big questions really that the police have to try to get answers to. what happened in the storming of the supermarket? how did those hostages die? where is hayat boumeddiene? also what is the connection these two seizures? did these two men -- did amedy coulibaly know the kouachi brothers? the police believe that possibly he did. how much were these two events planned in concert with each other?

were they unconnected evented that became connected through a shared ideology? these are things that the police and investigators will have to work out. >> rory live for us in porte de vincennes. the french president spoke a while ago. >> translator: france has dealt with it. i express any total solidarity to the families to the victims, to the injured but france has faced up to it. when we're faced with a challenge, it's a tragedy for nation and it's obligation for us to deal with it. the assassins have been put out of action thanks to a double-action in a warehouse and another in a kosher supermarket. i would like to thank the police and all parties that took part. >> jaky rolands join us live

from paris. we spoke to our correspondent in yemen who said that one of the kouachi brothers said was in yemen and training with al qaeda and that he'd been deported. now, that is obviously, going to raise a lot of questions for the french president. >> reporter: well yes. i mean the risk posed by french nationals, often the children or grandchildren of people originally emigrated to france often from former french colonies it's a known phenomenon that hundreds are believed young people like this have, in fact, traveled overseas be it to the arabian peninsula, to afghanistan or pakistan or to syria or iraq. this is a phenomenon now. it's something that the police and intelligence agencies are aware about. in fact politicians including president hollande have

acknowledged that these people did pose a threat. it's been said that france cannot afford to be complacent assuming that the people go overseas and perpetuate the attacks and it could come on france's doorstep. that happened in the last three days. inevitably there will be people asking why wasn't more done to prevent it and what can be done in the future? to be fair to the security forces and to the intelligence agencies, there have been reports of a number of raids. a few weeks ago in al jazeera we reported raids against what police described as a jihadist cells they claim they have broken up to the north of paris. the fact of the matter is if you look at potentially hundreds of young people overseas and coming back it's not possible for there to be an intelligence officers following every single one of of them. clearly, there's a need now for intelligence agencies to look in more detail who these people are and carry out assessments who may be a threat or not

interested anymore in the ideologies. basically carry out surveillance to people deemed more of a threat to others. the fact of the matter is you can't follow everyone. you can't have a police officer on every underground station and in every underground train. there's a finite amount of resources to convince the french people they're using the resources in the most efficient way possible to keep people safe. >> jackie pretty much every french politician that has commented has used the word unity to address this crisis. is there a fear there that there may be some that still want some kind of retribution, and what's the government doing to try to save guard against that? >> reporter: there's a feeling that these attacks, although we don't the exact motivation and

we have various reports and speculation, claims that the various attackers made affiliations be it to the islamic state in iraq and levant or affiliations to al qaeda in yemen or whatever. the fact remains they were making -- they were specifically targeted the cartoonists, because they were deeped anti-islamic, but a kosher supermarket because a lot of clientele were jewish it was imagined. they were seeking to drive wedges between different sections of french society. president hollande said no we're we're a plural society and all diverse. the message he's trying to push forward is that france needs to be united. yes, we can have differences but they will coexist. the other message as well is that the actions of these people he described as desperate

fanatics could not be motived or have anything to do with the muslim religion. clearly an effort there to say these people were not acting in the name of islam and therefore to diffuse any danger of people out there, maybe other extremist groups decides muslims are to blame and threatening attacks against, of course mosques or other targets. that kind of retaliatory attack would spread divisions into society is something that the authorities want to avoid. obviously, the exhe not to which this message is taken by french people we will see in the am koing days. at the moment a lot of focus on this big march, this big rally that's planned for sunday. a rally of unity, and also the fact that other european leaders are apparently going to come and take part as well. a recognition, i think, that this is not exclusively a french problem. the governments across europe recognize this is the kind of

event that could potentially take place in other european cities as well. >> jackie roland live for us in strl paris. thank you. the u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon is encouraging people to enhance the tolerance of other people's beliefs. he spoke after signing a condolence book at the french u.n. mission. he said all differences on religion and other issues canning resolved through dialogue but he said the tragedy in paris was not about religion. >> this is a truly terrorist attack criminal. this must be brought to justice in the name of humanity. they have been killed and it's

for the people around the world that it is important to manage the level of tolerance respected for the belief and traditions of others. >> we're joined by a middle east analyst specializes in french and arab affairs. we heard ban ki-moon, the u.n. chief, saying this isn't about religion but politics. there are a lot of people in france that are very worried about the situation. do you fear and do muslims in france fear a potential backlash against them? >> absolutely. we have already seen the current backlash that is concentrated in france. several mosques have been attacked since the atrocity happened, blank grenades have been launched and thrown at mosques, bullet holes were found in windows of mosques.

graffiti were painted on the places of worship in mosques in particular. women wearing the veil received a barrage of abuse. this is already happening, i'm afraid and it was always going to be inevitable in the wake of such an outrage. i think ban ki-moon, you know is quite right to say this is not about religion. it's hard not to have the overlap of religion when other factors are involved as well. clearly the profile of these young men is depressingly predictable in the sense they're young men, french youngmen of north african background and come from a poverty-stricken backgrounds raised in foster homes and one was homeless. you kind of see the background that is a fertile ground dealing with impressionable young men that can be brainwashed and go from effectively vulnerable

members of society to mass murderers. this is a crucial issue for the french government to deal with and, indeed governments from around the world and look at france and say, how can we also prevent that on our soil? >> hearing that all the politicians of speaks of unity, what can the french government do to ease the following weeks and months? >> it's the words we heard from the president are encouraging. they're sensitive words given the critical name of events that took place. he called for unity. he insisted on the reconciliation of both respect for freedom and speech and indeed the religious expression. that's a crucial matter that's going to be at the heart of a debate in french society. how do you allow people to practice their faith while maintaining freedom of speech by you know publications and things.

>> it's a pea perennial debate. wooech spoken about it for years. do you think there's a turning point? do you think both sides are a bit more entrenched if i can use that word because of the last few days? >> i'm afraid the french government has to recon siel the fact that there is no question that you know french muslims and indian muslims around the world have been deeply offended by the kind of publications that "charlie hebdo" was putting out, and there is no such thing as limitless freedom of speech. it happens in a context, you know when you live in a democracy, you abide by certain laws and there are laws i about responsible and indeed sensitive journalism. so france has to come to terms with that. "charlie hebdo" cannot claim absolute freedom of speech while going about restraining and indeed repressing the freedoms of muslims including

restraining -- the freedom to wear head scarfs for women or eat meat. you cannot have absolute freedom for yourself on the one hand while restricting the liberties of other people. >> francois hollande spoke publicly to the nation an hour ago. let's have another listen to what he did say, and then we'll comment on it. >> translator: i want to call upon vigilance, unity, and mobilization. vigilance, it is up to the state to demonstrate it. with the prime minister i have further strengthened all the mens to protect our public places and to ensure that we can live peacefully without at any time being able to be the target of a threat or a risk. we must be vigilant.

i also call upon the 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 everything 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 that 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 ourselves and be cable to deal

with threats through force when 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 and never show fear, because we have an ideal which is greater than us and that we're capable of defending everywhere. >> francois hollande there. we heard president hollande there. already, he was a president in trouble, the economic crisis and the scandal with his mistress and the first lady. he was sort of elected on a ticket of being tough on this sort of thing, and this happened. in how much trouble is he? >> his political position is going to be incredibly difficult. he built his reputation as you rightly said on showing zero tolerance towards terrorism, islamic mentalism and radicalism in general.

this is someone that went to mali to try and curb that kind of dark force, when you see, you know the disturbing ease with which people were murdered at the heart of central paris and indeed on the french territory, he will have to also you know answer a lot of questions following. >> the potential failures when we spoke to our correspondent in yemen seemed to say said kouachi trained in yemen and was deported something that perhaps the french picked up on. >> the intelligence services in france were clearly aware of the background of cherif kouachi. they were also aware of all the gunman involved and the connection, the clear connection with al qaeda. they were on all sorts of listing including on the u.s. terror list and we know that

governments speak too each other whether it comes to global security issues. we saw how the government failed to protect those journalists. don't forget that the "charlie hebdo" offices were targeted in 2011. there were firebombs thrown at the offices, and the building was meant to be under police protection. clearly the french police did not adequately protect. >> i guess the situation ended in perhaps a predictable way with the deaths of the hostage-takers. it must be an uneasy evening in francs right no when it comes to security. a lot of people must be worried going out. what do you think the government can or shutted do to make sure all sections of society are secure in paris? >> it's the practical logistics involved in making sure that you have the right level of contingents when it comes to police deployed on the streets.

i think people would feel reassured to see police presence and feel safer, perhaps, psychologically. it's important that you feel reassured. i think more crucially it will have to come from you know the palmtic politics put forward by the government. we know that the political parties like the national fund have quite offensive rhetoric towards all sorts of minority groups including muslims, but this is not the national fund is not the only party. even the socialist party has quite a divisive. we have a quite hard line prime minister at the moment who came up with arhetoric towards it is roman community, for example. we have to see words of unity translating to action. >> thank you for that. you can get a lot more on everything that's happened on our website. the address is aljazeera.com. i'll have more news in just a few minutes. please join us.

in their homes, the mayor telling people the siege has come to a dramatic end in france. five are killed at a jewish supermarket in paris. minutes earlier police shot the two brothers wanted in the attack at "charlie hebdo".." you're watching al jazeera live from london. we have the very latest on the breaking news from france including a national address by president hollande who described the attacks as appalling and warns france they still face threats. >> france is our oldest