Two simultaneous hostage-takings in France today were linked, with
suspected gunmen in each situation connected through an earlier attempt to break
a convicted terrorist out of jail.
Amedi Coulibaly, 32, a suspect in a Thursday fatal shooting of a police
officer in Paris' Monrouge area, is believed to be involved with a hostage
standoff at a kosher grocery, police said. Coulibaly was convicted for his
involvement in an attempt to help a convicted terrorist escape custody, while
Cherif Kouachi -- a suspected gunman in Wednesday's massacre at a French
satirical newspaper office -- was released.
The man they were accused of trying to free from prison was Smain Ali
Belkacem, one of those behind the 1995 attack on the Paris transport system
that killed eight people and wounded 120, according to the Paris public
prosecutor.
Officials have identified Kouachi and his brother Said Kouachi as
suspects in the attack that killed 12 people. The suspected gunmen were holed
up in a printing company in a town northeast of Paris, taking one male employee
hostage, said Audrey Taupenas, a spokeswoman for Dammartin-en-Goele City Hall.
Police have issued a wanted poster for Coulibaly and a female suspect,
identified as Hayat Boumeddiene.
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