Crime in France

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to attend a French national unity rally in Paris on Sunday following an invitation from the country?s President Francois Hollande.

The peaceful march was organized in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last Wednesday in which 12 people were shot dead by French-Algerian brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi.

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.

The French security forces stormed almost simultaneously both hostage sites - the kosher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes district in Paris and the printing shop in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele.

The suspected Charlie Hebdo gunmen, who had taken a hostage at a printing shop in Dammartin on Friday, were killed in the assault, the BBC reports.

Police have denied their own previous reports that two people had been killed after a shootout in a Kosher supermarket in Paris, France.

An unknown number of people are being held hostage.

At least two people have been shot dead in a kosher supermarket in the south-east of Paris, AFP sources say.

Earlier, it was reported that a gunman was holding up to five hostages in the shop, demanding that the Charlie Hebdo attackers be released.

More to follow.

Several hostages were freed after French commandos stormed a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris where an assailant was holed up on Friday.
      
After several explosions, police stormed the shop in Portes de Vincennes and several hostages exited the store shortly afterwards and were taken to safety.

Five people were killed, including the gunman, sources said.

A deputy from Turkey?s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has claimed that the deadly Jan. 7 Charlie Hebdo attack was ?staged like a movie scene.?

The brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, who are suspected of having killed 12 people in the attack on Charlie Hebdo weekly, have told police they want to "die in martyrdom", a French official says.

This comes as authorities have started talks with the two men, nearly 48 hours after the events at Charlie Hebdo's office.

Shots have been heard 45 km north-east of Paris as police are driving after a car presumably used by the gunmen who committed the attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

For nearly two days thousands of police officers have been taking part in the manhunt following the twelve murders at Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris.

Elite French police stormed a printworks and a Jewish supermarket Jan. 9, killing two brothers wanted for the Charlie Hebdo attack and a gunman linked to them in a dramatic end to twin sieges that rocked France.