okay everyone. there are two major stories we are following for you at this hour. first, the massive manhunt that's continuing in france. two men suspected in the paris terrorist attack. they are still on the run. we don't know their whereabouts. we're following the latest efforts to pin them down. also coming up for you this hour pings detected in the java sea. this is a potential break through in the search for airasia flight 8501. we'll get you live to indonesia for the latest information in moments. >> hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and rnd the world. i'm zain asher. >> good to be with you again.

i'm errol barnett. we'll be with you for this final and fourth hour. it is 9:00 a.m. in paris and the search for two suspects has led police to northern france. investigators say they may have spotted them on foot in a wooded area about an hour's drive northeast of paris. >> so police think these men fled there after robbing a nearby gas station on thursday morning where they stole food and gasoline. they are the prime suspects in wednesday's massacre at the "charlie hebdo" magazine. jim sciutto has more on who they are. >> reporter: cherif kouachi looks carefree rapping in this french television documentary. a far cry from his current predicament as heavily armed police comb the countryside looking for cherif and his older brother said. they are the men authorities

allege are behind paris' worst terrorist attack in decades. their alleged involvement shocks their neighbors. >> translator: he lived here for a year and a half. he used to leave in the morning and we never saw him. but if he really did that it's disgusting because what we saw last night, truly we cried. >> reporter: french reports say cherif 32 and 34-year-old said were orphaned at a young age. both brothers have radicalized pasts and drew the attention of french authorities. because there is too many suspected jihadis in france. the younger cherif spent time in jail for his links to terrorism. in 2005, arrested before traveling to syria.

a plan that could have taken him to fight against u.s. and coalition troops in iraq. today, the mosque where they worshipped is torn down. french reports say here he met a man who would teach him to use a kalishnikov and train by jogging in a local park. he was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008 for recruiting jihadis to fight in iraq. cherif's former lawyer claims he was not an extremist. >> translator: he was like a lot of young people. he just had a job that provided money for an uninteresting lifestyle. when he got out of custody, he found a job, got mare yesterdayryied and seemed to be getting on the right path. >> reporter: much less is nope about said who seems to have had a lower profile. >> translator: said kouachi lived in france unemployed and never condemned or accused, but he had in the periphery of some

of these investigations. >> reporter: largely in the periphery until leaving his i.d. in the getaway car and tipping off authorities who the gunmen might be. >> it was a mistake, a single mistake. >> let's turn now to our isa sourez from paris. it's just past 9:00 in the morning there now, daybreak everyone getting up and getting about their day. we can see behind you crowds are slowly growing at some of those makeshift memorials. >> reporter: indeed. if i move just out of the way, you can see as daybreak comes in at 9:00 you're starting to see people just come to this makeshift memorial and pay their respects and just stand thing in silence, some of them bowing the head. i read one of the messages to you earlier md while people were

doing that we're also seeing that manhunt really. day three now, a very massive operation. at this point police are paying a lot of attention to a town here in northern france. this is where they say they may have spotted the brothers on foot in a wooded area on thursday. vans for police officers swarmed to that rural area and helicopters have been searching overhead. they closed off ten kilometers around that area. that follows an incident on thursday in the nearby town about 80 kilometers or so 50 miles from where we are. this what happened was, a gas station attendant says the two brothers stopped at his gas station and threatened him. he says they were armed and they stole food and gas before driving away. now, all this led police to bring in a convoy of 30 to 40

vehicles and set up roadblocks in the area. the same time the french prime minister put the region on the highest alert level and important to emphasize the same alert level we're seeing here in paris. one other development i want to bring to you this hour investigators empty gas containers. officials got this information from french intelligence. they believe the suspects may have intended to use those items to make explosives rudimentary explosives such as molotov cocktails. so a lot to get through, the manhunt, day three now of this manhunt. many hoping that police really catch these two brothers before the weekend. there is a fear as jim betterman and i were talking earlier, if they don't catch

them soon enough that could turn to anger. cnn's international correspondent jim bittermann is with me. also joining me is a diplomatic consultant. christian, thank you very much for joining us. >> good morning. >> reporter: let's start with you on the manhunt. an the moment we're seeing people very solemn people paying their respects people not angry, we're not seeing any anger at the moment. how soon do you think that will change, given the fact that we're now in day three? >> well i think everybody is hoping that this manhunt will stop very quickly and we will get these two barbaric guys these terrorists. but it's clear a lot of people fear these men will never

surrender. they will go to the end. they are extremists they are jihadist jihadists. and this is no way that they are going to stop and they will go to the very end. so what we are afraid of they have a lot of guns arms kalishnikovs explosives maybe molotov cocktails. and they might kill some other people. we don't know where they are. we talked about the northern part of paris, 50, 60 miles away from paris. but if these people can kill again, definitely they will try to kill again. with a profile linked to al qaeda in yemen and iraq. this is our problem. we have 1,232 men like these two supposedly having been or still being jihadists. it's the list that's been given by the secretary of interior saying that we know them we

know where they are, and they come and go between syria and france. so we are in a new type of war, by people worry about. i have heard so many people telling it's a new world. every day somebody can get shot somewhere. it's very scary. >> i think one of the things we're seeing here is how dangerous authorities think this situation is. those troops up there searching in the woods are very heavily armed. it is the s.w.a.t. team expanded to many other military and police they're completely prepared for a confrontation. you can envision that the two guys get desperate that they would take hostages for example. they've already held up a gas station. they're not very well organized. at the beginning, we

overestimated them. now they look a little more like losers in the sense that they had to hold up a gas station to get food and that sort of thing. they hadn't done the post attack planning one might have expected from professional terrorists. >> the french police under a lot of pressure to find them. but they will be criticized for the fact that they knew the background of these two individuals. they had a history. what happened? what slipped through their fingers and why? >> we've heard several people in jim sciutto's report there have just too many terrorists to track. you have to put anywhere from thee to ten agents to follow somebody full time and you're talking about over 1,000 people that are worth being tracked, you just cannot have enough

manpower to track all of these folks. the fact that they were on the -- the older brother was on the no-fly list to the united states i'm not sure that information was known in france. but that no-fly list is tens of thousands of people. you've got a big problem here. and we've got a big problem. >> on that note do you think at this stage the french authority also be sharing intelligence with european authorities, also with the u.s., do you think it's opening a bit more given what's happening? christian, i'm not sure if you heard me there. i'm going to repeat the question just in case. we were talking about the fact that these two brothers slipped through the fingers, they had a history and somehow no one kept tabs on them. my question to you is this do

you think now the french the u.s. authorities and indeed european authorities and governments are sharing intelligence now with the french government and trying to catch these two brothers? >> oh yes, definitely. after all the support we have got from a country like america, the united states and some other european countries, everybody is working very hard. i think it's all of a sudden the western world, and after what happened in paris, everybody is waking up. my god, we are in this new type of world. we have to really fight. so we better be all together and work really harder together to try to catch these people. all the more so yesterday i met some people working on terrorism. and one of them gave me figures, which are really worrying saying that around the paris

area the region he said we have 15,000 people who have sympathy for the islamic state of isis. it's very worrying. we have more and more terrorists islamist networks in paris and big cities. so it's going to be a big fight all of the country. but we have been closing the eyes too long. the various governments have been very lax. we have to say it this way and we wake up today. it's a tough job ahead. >> i think christian makes a very good point. it is an enormous problem and this is a real wakeup call to what's happened here behind us. >> reporter: it's a shock to many people. also we're seeing this -- they

were organized, but it was a different m.o. than we've seen and worth reminding people that these two individuals were born here. they were french. but clearly they felt they didn't fit in. and they didn't fit in here, they didn't fit in other countries. >> we've done a lot of stories on this. the fact is the sons and daughters of immigrants are not treated here. there is discrimination of people with arabic sounding names. and as a consequence, they don't feel at home in france. >> that's something france will have to look into. jim bittermann thank you very much for that. and christian, also for your analysis as always. errol and zain back to you. >> thank you very much for that. we have to warn you what you're about to see is very

disturbing. cnn has obtained an imam of the tragic aftermath of wednesday's attack in paris. >> the image shows you just one hallway there inside the "charlie hebdo" office. you can seal just chaos and horrific scene of blood on the ground and papers scattered about. just gives you a glimpse of the horror experienced in there. we are following breaking news on another major development in the search for airasia's wreckage. slsz >> new pings have been heard possible clues in the investigation of this crash. stay with us. [ male announcer ] stop! living with hair loss, that is. losing your hair is no fun and no one wants to be bald but there is hope. getting my hair back was the best thing that ever happened to me. i'm happy with the way i look now. i'm very excited about my hair. i feel beautiful. i love my hair. [ male announcer ] hair club offers all proven hair loss solutions backed by our commitment to satisfaction

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♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ okay. we're going to go now to another breaking news story. search and rescue teams from indonesia have detected pings that could be i want to emphasize the word could be coming from the black boxes from airasia flight 8501. the recorders are a key piece of evidence when it comes to investigating what went wrong, what happened in this tragic plain disaster. >> you may remember on wednesday, we broke the news that divers had spotted the plane's tail. now crews are working on ways to pull it to the surface. we understand they will use a crane and some balloons that will be inflated under the water

to help lift it up. >> it is a tall order for search and rescue teams. in order to get a positive team from the boxes, there must be no interference in the water. right now the presence of search and rescue boats could be doing that. i want to go now to david, who is live for us in indonesia. david, we know that they have detected these pings that could be coming from the black boxes, but they're working to bring out the tail in the java sea. walk us through the multiple operations going on right now. >> reporter: zain let's start with the possible pings picked up by an indonesian survey ship. this is according to the general of indonesia's armed forces, who was out in the search zone today. possible pings, not sure of the course but what they've done is sent divers to the water presumably to get eyes on the

source or with handheld listening devices to track down if these are the black boxes or not. the other major operation going on right now, it started yesterday, on thursday. but right now divers back in the water around the tail section of the plane. i think we have some new underwater video that's just in that we can show you, if we can bring that up. the pictures show what appears to be part of one of the emergency doors or the rear door of the plane. if you look closely, part of the fuselage around the door is missing. things are hanging hoos certainly in bad condition. jagged conditions. that section of the tail we're told about ten meters or 30 feet in length they're using rope using slings. eventually the plan if the currents permit they're going to inflate giant airbags or balloons give it a little boost

off the floor of the sea and use a crane to raise it to the surface. the hope is that the black boxes may be somewhere in that tail section. of course they'll have to take a closer look potentially, bring it to the surface to see if that's the case. zain, certainly busy this afternoon out on the java sea. >> just looking at incredible images. i can see divers there trying to -- is this the sailtail section we're seeing them hoist up there. but obviously this is a dangerous task for the divers. has the weather been cooperative? i know it's 3:00 in the afternoon there in indonesia. what is the weather like for these divers today? >> reporter: the weather according to officials, fairly good. on thursday we had these

underwater currents. divers described them they were fluttering like flags. things much better today and they're able to stay down longer. if the currents are less they use less energy. we have a camera on the indonesian ship that is the staging area for the divers. he's saying it's averagefternoon the winds are picking up. we could get currents again. so we'll see if they can partially raise that tail in the next few hours. >> the last thing we want is choppy waters since we are in the middle of monsoon season there. david, thank you. still to come for you on cnn this hour we are learning more about the paris massacre suspect's possible ties to terrorism. >> next on cnn, the troubling link to al qaeda in yemen. we'll be right back.

welcome back everyone. we are learning new details about the two brothers in the suspected terror attack in paris. french intelligence sources say that said kouachi, who is on the right there, traveled to yemen as late as 2011 where he received weapons training from the al qaeda affiliate there, aqap al qaeda in yemen, al

qaeda in the arabian peninsula. another french source says one of the brothers spent time in syria. a u.s. law enforcement official tells cnn the brothers were in a database of international terrorist suspects and both had been on the no-fly list for many years. >> earlier, i spoke to correspondent nic robertson about why the suspect's apparent connection to yemen is so significant and how this plays into the global terrorism. >> reporter: they are one of the biggest threats to the west at the moment. there's a huge internal fight going on inside yemen, and it gets more and more complex by the day. but al qaeda has had a strong base there. we understand from u.s. officials that the french intelligence have told them that one of the brothers the older brother said went to yemen in 2011. this is a time when al qaeda had control of three provinces.

al qaeda in yemen has a bomber there named ibrahim who have made some of the most sophisticated bombs around the world. for that reason they're seen as being operationally dangerous that they can export and do have a group that specifically targets the west. so the fact that one has been this yes, the environment is there for him to get training. he could have learned how to use a kalishnikov there. but this is this al qaeda group in yemen that wants to target the west. we don't know if he was sent back to do that or what the connections to do that. but yes, take al qaeda in yemen very seriously. >> we know one of the brothers was arrested in 2008 convicted on terrorism charges. we also know the u.s. had one of these brothers on a no-fly list. did france drop the ball here.

>> they had both broth evers on a database that connected them with terrorism. the french will obviously say they have to re-examine what they're doing, but there are so many potential suspects coming back from syria and iraq the intelligence authorities don't have the people to sort of watch all of them 24-7. it takes 20 or 30 people to watch one person 24-7. so while there were periods in their lives, they seem to be active trying to recruit people to fight in iraq travel through syria, which is what the younger brother cherif was convicted for. then he went back to a normal life boozing and smoking done. so the intelligence authorities could afford to take their eye off of him. but what we're learning now is proving different. what we're learning now is proving something else.

>> yeah. especially given the ongoing sectarian violence and tensions there in yemen. it's unclear what role the third suspect played. he turned himself in to police the 18-year-old. but there are rumors he may have been cleared. >> that's right. what we do know is as daylight emerges in paris, it is seeing a city in mourning. ahead on city vigils to remember the victims and words of defiance. we'll get you live to paris after this.

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welcome back. to those of you watching in the

u.s. and around the world, we appreciate that. you're also checking in with us online. i'm errol barnett. >> and i'm zain asher. the search has intensified for the suspects in the paris terrorist attack. >> the latest information is investigators say a police helicopter may have got a glimpse of the men who are still on the run while they were in a wooded area in northern france. this took place after they abandoned their vehicle. some 80,000 police now involved in that search. >> let's turn once again to our isa sourez who is live in paris. so isa, this time yesterday we saw the momentum in the manhunt picking up. we felt police at least knew their whereabouts. now it seems to have slowed down. what's the latest? >> reporter: thei'm sure there's a lot the police aren't passing

on but no doubt this is a massive manhunt. you mentioned the number of police being deployed talking about 80,000 police being deployed. one thing is very clear, as long as those two brothers are on the loose, french police are not rest. so we've seen an incredibleably man hunt for the search of those two brothers that killed 12 people. police have been focusing north of paris, and they have been focusing here because they have seen, they've had helicopters, heavily armed police almost like a military style police. jim bittermann saying to me this is france's s.w.a.t. team. so they're taking this seriously, we've seen helicopters in the area. helicopters apparently spotted the two brothers. that's as far as we know. that was the last sighting of

the brother. what we do know is that the two brothers went into a petrol station and really harassed one of the gentlemen working there. they wanted petrol and food. he was unharmed thank goodness. but it goes to show these two men who we saw initially were organized, don't seem to be that much so now and they're very dangerous being out there, no doubt the french authorities are very worried about this. one other development we have learned is that they have left in that car a couple of -- they left some gasoline and some empty containers. police thinking that the intention was to build explosives molotov cocktails. for more on this let's bring in jim bittermann who has been following the story from day one. zain asked me that it seems it's

slowed down the manhunt. >> i don't get that impression no. i think they're still very mobilized. this is a huge area they're trying to search and that may present a big problem for them. the weather is also a problem, but it's a problem for the two suspects because they've got to put up with the weather, too. and they weren't prepared. they had to knock over a gas station just to get food. >> how big is this area? we're not talking about a small town this is a very large area. >> if we go just by the area that's been raised with the terror alert, it's hundreds of square miles. what we don't know is what the police aren't telling us. they don't want to tip off through the media the two suspects. so we may not have a very clear idea how localized they've been able tos aer ascertain who these fies are.

-- guys are. and so you don't really know what means they may have that we're unaware of. >> with the exceptional police force, we've seen the helicopters and seen them heavily armed. >> they have all the equipment. it's just a huge area and a very complicated area. there are summer homes, there are caves, forests. just any number of places where you could find sanctuary if you were on the run. so it's a big job, and i couldn't say it's been slowed down at all. the government has put so much pressure and they really want to find these guys. >> no doubt the government is also under pressure. we're learning more about the two brothers learning that one of those brothers actually was

trained in yemen with an al qaeda affiliate. >> that's just come out with u.s. authorities, that in 2011 said kouachi, who up until now we were assuming he was a willing follower now it turns out he did go to yemen, was trained in yemen. so it puts a different dynamic on this. the younger brother wanted to go join the jihad in iraq as early as 2005. so ten years ago. >> so a lot of pressure on the french government also the french government put a lot of pressure on the police to find those two. back to zain and errol. >> isa, thank you very much. now we want to bring you much more on the paris attack and man hunt ahead. but we want to bring you other breaking news developments as it

relates to the search for airasia flight 8501. search and rescue teams have detected possible pings. they could be coming from the black boxes from the airliner. >> the recorders are a key piece of evidence when it comes to investigating a plane disaster. but it's still possible the pings could be coming from other interference in the water. >> that's the concern. one of the more fascinating parts of this for me any way, divers will try and use balloons to lift the plane's tail which they discovered wednesday. they submerged them below the tail under water and try to bring it to the surface. it's believed the black boxes may no longer be in the tail section. there are fears of heavy casualties in northeast nigeria. i feel like we report on these boko haram attacks way too

frequently. once again, there was a series of attacks. >> a local official says militants went on a burning spree wednesday, destroying up to 16 villages. the number of people killed is now in the hundreds. still to come for you though it's one egyptian's image of extremism. a prominent cartoonist responds to the attacks on "charlie hebdo." >> and he tells us how he's been empowered. stay with us. [ male announcer ] stop! living with hair loss, that is. losing your hair is no fun and no one wants to be bald but there is hope. getting my hair back was the best thing that ever happened to me. i'm happy with the way i look now. i'm very excited about my hair. i feel beautiful. i love my hair. [ male announcer ] hair club offers all proven hair loss solutions backed by our commitment to satisfaction guaranteed. if you're not 100% satisfied with the solution you choose hair club will apply the purchase price to another proven hair loss solution or transplant more hair at no charge. it was the best thing i've ever done.

it looks good on me. [ male announcer ] call in the next five minutes to get your free brochure at no obligation. it will tell you everything you need to know about your hair-loss problem and it's free if you call now. i am more pleased than what i had even imagined. i at least look, i would say five years younger. i'm 52 and i look better now than i did when i was in my 40s. i feel great. [ male announcer ] and that's not all. the first 100 people who call will also receive $250 off any hair loss solution from hair club. call now! move it. the big. the massive. the "what-the-heck-is-that?"

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thanks for staying with our special coverage here on cnn. we want to take you now to a live signal coming us to north of paris where early reports indicate that two suspects and this could be close to where the two suspects that relate to the "charlie hebdo" attack were being searched for, two suspects are in a vehicle and are currently being chased by police. what you're looking at now is a live signal brought to us by reuters showing what appears to be a line of police vans as they try and chase these two suspects in a vehicle. what's also more troubling is that we have a report that it's possible a hostage was taken by these two suspects and could be in that vehicle right now.

so that's very sparse information. but you're seeing the heavy rain this is hampering search efforts for these suspects. and you're seeing the traffic, as well. but considering we saw about 24 hours ago the shooting of a female police officer, not clear if that's connected, but this -- >> we want to emphasize we are not 100% sure that is connected to the kouachi brothers but it is coincidental that three days after the people were killed at the "charlie hebdo" offices, we're seeing taking place a gun battle a hostage taken situation, and also a police car chase there on a highway in paris. in paris, it's 9:45 in the morning. we don't know we are not 100% that it is confirmed that this

does relate to the kouachi brothers. but here you have the situation that seems to be intensifying. are police closing in? >> you have to imagine this is such an unnerving situation for the police officers who are part of this specific police chase. on that glimpse, we got, as they all turned a corner on this highway, what i could count at least half a dozen police vans as they chase this vehicle. again, two suspects north of paris have reportedly stolen a vehicle and could potentially have a hostage with them in that car. that car is just a few car lengths ahead of this line of police vehicles that you're watching on your screen. this live signal coming to us from reuters from inside a vehicle. what's really standing out is look at that rain. you have the fog out there, as well. this is a soggy and wet french morning. police officials are going to be

on edge. two police officers killed by the gunmen on wednesday. one female police officer killed yesterday. it's unclear if those are connected. but this is a time of heightened tension, heightened fear in france. and now this dramatic twist. again, not clear if it's connected but certainly a frightful week for france as these police officers chase two suspects, who could have a hostage in the car with them right now. >> there are reports that these might be the two suspects the kouachi brothers who allegedly committed this act of terror on wednesday. we don't know for sure. it looks as though the video appears to be frozen. >> again, quite compelling we're able to bring this to you considering the bad weather in and around paris. there had been lightning in the past hour. certainly in other areas it's much more heavy. the signal breaking apart for us

there. if you look at the traffic on the highway, this is not a rural area. this is a place where people are heading to work. and then you see this long line of police vans chasing a vehicle. the report being that shots were fired ahead of this. >> and i'm being told that these are -- this is taking place near the main airport in paris. this is where this police car chase is taking place. there are reports out there that this could be related to the suspected terrorists the kouachi brothers. we have sources in paris working to confirm what this is related to the two suspected kouachi brothers. there are reports once again there has been a gun battle just

outside of paris. someone, at least one person we're hearing taken hostage and now you're seeing a high speed police car chase. this video coming to us from reuters. it's almost 10:00 in the morning there in paris. >> once again, you are essentially part of this police chase. we are inside a vehicle that's showing us this live signal from the highway, through this horrible weather. another aspect 06 this that will have police and officials concerned that that the two suspects from the "charlie hebdo" attack one of them is believed to have training. we're talking terrorism training in yemen. the other brother was able to go to syria and iraq both skilled. the older brother able to get training possibly in weapons, how to use weapons and how to make molotov cocktails. there was an earlier report gas cans had been found. so there's a real concern that

they may have an even more sinister plan that they're trying to push forward here. early reports of all of this, you're watching this unfold with us live on television as police chase a vehicle after shots were fired and 1789suspects got in that car, and now we understand this is close to the major airport. so a breaking development that you are witnessing live. >> it does appear that police do seem to be closing in on these two suspects if these are the two suspects. remember there are 88,000 police officers involved. and it's sort of interesting when you think about it errol. this all started because one of them left their i.d. card in the car. imagine that. would the police really be this far along had that mistake not happened? >> we hadn't received an update from police for some time. but as we watch this incident

again, it's not clear if this is connected, i want to bring in other details that we have from the french interior minister. he said that french police have surrounded an area where they believe the terrorists are located. cope in mind that information is just getting to us at cnn now and confirmed through our correspondents. it's unclear if the police that has surrounded the suspects from the "charlie hebdo" attack before this unfolded and that's what spurred them to flee. again, uncareer if this police chase is connected to the terror attack from earlier in the week. but the information we can confirm form you is that the french interior minister says the police at some point not long ago, were able to surround an area where they believe the terrorists are located. so major twist and turns.

>> so many moving towards right now. it's interesting to see how they all fit together. police have surrounded an area where they believe the terrorists are. there was a gun battle. someone was taken homgstage. now there's a police car chase by the airport. and we counted in this video, multiple french police vans chasing on the freeway there. how do these parts all fit together and how do they find the kouachi brothers if they are the kouachi brothers. >> that's right. we do not know if this police chase we're witnessing right now is connected. we don't have confirmation. what we do know about this police chase is that it was preceded by a gun battle. the suspects got in a vehicle and there's a report they possibly took a hostage, as well. now a very large police presence is chasing them down the

highway. separately to that again, we don't know that there's a link separately to that. we know that recently the french interior minister confirmed the police did surround an area where they believe the terrorists are located. and we do know that the profiles of these two men in their early 30s that we've been really looking into over these past two days. >> cherif and said kouachi. >> their desire to go overseas and train jihadi fighters and head to iraq and syria. then that massacre it wouldn't be beyond them. >> i want to bring in jim bittermann who has been covering the story. >> here we go. >> jim, what are you hearing? we're hearing about this gun battle a hostage crisis situation and also this high

speed car chase near the airport on the freeway there. we are watching this live video north of paris. what more do you know? >> reporter: well at this point in time it's a little difficult to discover what is happening here. whether these are all related, we're talking about the same event. in any case there was a high speed car chase with shots fired in northeast paris according to one report that hasn't been confirmed yet. secondly there is a hostage taking incident near the airport, northeast of the airport. and it depends on how far northeast we're talking about. there's also according to the interior minister a s.w.a.t. tome operation under way. which is also north of the airport. but it's very close to the area where they have been searching for the two suspects who fled the scene here after killing 12

people. so we're not sure to what extent these are the same event. all of these things are north of paris and it may be different conflicting reports. but for sure according to the interior minister, there is action under way involving a factory north of the airport and north of paris. and we'll have to just wait for more information on that. the other thing the interior minister said is that they have gotten important leads on the killing of that young policewoman yesterday, that they have found in the war that was used by the suspect who came out and shot the young lady on the southern edge of paris, that they found some important leads this morning that they hope will lead them to the gunmen. >> our jim bittermann is live in paris. we continue to follow this

breaking development. we have a correspondent on the line for us. if you can bring us up to speed on what you know about the car chase that we're watching right now. >> i think the degree of confidence of french authorities that they have actually located the suspected french terrorist couldn't be any higher. it's clear from what the french interior minister said. they think they have their guys. they're confident that these guys are in a factory, it seems they're being very careful about it. but there might be an ongoing hostage situation in a factory.

it's about 25 miles northeast of paris and the middle point between paris and the area that they searched yesterday. so what we have now is a very high degree of confidence that the french authorities have their man, that there might be -- [ no audio ] a massive deployment of french security forces to try to bring the situation to an end as quickly and peacefully as possible. >> what can you tell us about this car chase we're watching? our viewers are watching this car chase we believe was on a freeway. it looks as though it's stopping now. we saw three french police vans casing at high speed what seemed to be another vehicle. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: my understanding is that it was not a car chase situation but simply police trying to get to that particular

factory as quickly as possible. this morning, earlier this morning, two respected terrorists hijacked a car and then in the process of getting the the factory we've been talking about, there was an exchange of fire with security forces. but my understanding, they are now in this factory and you can see french authorities waving the cameras trying to get to the hoe location. >> giving us an update on these breaking developments. police heading to the airport where a hostage situation and

shootout had taken place. but the headline here is there was a high degree of confidence by police now that they had in fact located these two suspects cherif and said kouachi. >> and that police are surrounding what is believed to be a factory, looking for their man. so this is obviously so many moving parts in this story. we'll keep you updated throughout the day. just to recap, it appears that french police are closing in on those two suspect terrorists cherif and said both in their 30s and believed to have killed 12 people in this attack. >> we have our correspondents there in paris. we have experts we'll be connecting with and we certainly want to stay with this breaking development. if you're just joining us on cnn, reports that there is a high degree of confidence that police have located the two

suspects behind the massacre we saw in paris this week the interior minister saying he's confident that these suspects have been hoelocated. police reinforcements there are moan than 80,000 police officers working on this heading to an airport, telling the camera people that the feed were we watching earlier, to get back to not get closer. you get the sense that police are closing in on those who are behind the attack. >> you have to wonder by the end of today how is this going to end, how is this drama going to play out? we want to remind our viewers just how dangerous these two men are. they massacred 12 people. they are believed to have ties to al qaeda in yemen. one was convicted in 2008 for ties with terrorism.

so these men are extremely dangerous. france is not an easy place to get weapons. how did they get just to recap the hostage situation going on in paris outside of paris, i should say. police seem to have surrounded the factory closing in on these two men said and cherif kouachi, who they believe were involved in this massacre. >> the most frightening part about this moment if we are approaching a confrontation with the suspects they have shown they are not afraid to pull the trigger. they are not afraid to shoot at police officers and innocent people. unfortunately, as we witness those bullet markings they are well trained. police on edge. they do have a high degree of confidence. these suspects have been located. you see a helicopter there. there apparently is a factory near the airport where they are

located. we will continue to cover this. stay with cnn. "early start" colleagues will pick up coverage from here. >> thank you for watching. >> thank you for wat >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> all right. the breaking news this morning, police have been speeding along a convoy here on a highway near charles de gaulle airport near paris. officials tell cnn they have surrounded surrounded an area. they believe the gunmen in this week's terror attack may be located. there is an operation ongoing right now. we have all the developments this morning. >> a lot unfolding right now. a lot of moving parts. the search for the two suspects begins and continues here. i'm christine romans. you are watching "early