Dual Hostage Crisis Results in Death of Three Suspects, Four Hostages

The two hostage incidents that unfolded in France on Friday resulted in the death of three suspects and four hostages.

The suspected perpetrators of the January 7 Charlie Hebdo shooting brothers Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi took a hostage in a printing plant northeast of Paris in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele on Friday.

Around the same time, Amedy Coulibaly, suspected for the killing of a policewoman in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge on Thursday, took several hostages at a kosher supermarket in the Porte de Vincennes district in eastern Paris.

The gunman in the kosher supermarket declared that the hostages are not to be released unless the Kouachi brothers, suspected of committing the Charlie Hebdo attack, are freed.

The French security forces stormed the two hostage sites almost simultaneously.

The assault on the printing plant in Dammartin-en-Goele resulted in the death of the Kouachi brothers, while the hostage was freed.

The storming of the kosher supermarket in Paris was more bloody as it resulted in the death of the gunman, but also claimed the lives of at least four hostages.

Both French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve praised the efforts of the various police units that took part in the operations.
Hollande condemned the taking of hostages at the kosher supermarket as "appalling anti-Semitic act" and called for unity of the nation.

Hollande is going to participate together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Spannish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other European leaders in the unity rally that is to take place in Paris on Sunday.

There is also going to be an emergency summit...