SEARCH NARROWS FOR CHARLIE HEBDO SUSPECTS

Paris, 18 Rabi’ul Awwal 1436/9 January 2015 (MINA) – Heavily armed anti-terrorism police have swooped on residential areas northeast of Paris in a extensive manhunt for two brothers suspected of being the gunmen who killed 12 people at a satirical weekly in the French capital.

Officers said the operation began after witnesses sighted the two men said to be responsible for the attack on Charlie Hebdo in a town in the Picardy region, adding that their hijacked getaway car was found in the same area.

The manager of a petrol station near the Villers-Cotteret commune in Picardy said he “recognised the two men suspected of having participated in the attack against Charlie Hebdo,” police sources said, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Villers-Cotteret is located approximately 80km northeast of Paris.

The latest getaway car of the attackers, who hijacked multiple vehicles after the incident, was found abandoned around the same area.

The identity cards of the suspects and petrol bombs were found in the abandoned car.

Two of the alleged attackers, who are also brothers, have been identified as 32-year-old Said Kouachi and 34-year-old Cherif Kouachi. Police said they are French-born sons of Algerian-born parents.

The two men, along with another person who is believed to be a teenager, are thought to have carried out Wednesday’s attack before escaping in a car.

In a news conference late on Thursday, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the younger brother was known French security forces, adding that he had had links to al-Qaeda in 2004 and 2005.

He added that Said Kouachi had been under security survellience. (T/P001/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)