THREE TERRORISTS AND FOUR HOSTAGES DEAD: Bloody End to French Sieges as Commandos Storm Kosher Deli and Printing Firm Where Magazine Assassins and Policewoman's Killer were Holed up - but FEMALE Accomplice is on The Run
- Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi were killed as they tried to fight their way out of a print works 25 miles from Paris
- Fellow jihadi Amedy Coulibay also killed after taking hostages at a Jewish grocery shop in east of city
- His girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene, described as armed and dangerous, is still on the run
- Four hostages died at grocery shop while Michel Catalano, who was held by Kouachi brothers escaped unharmed
- All three dead terrorists were born in France but linked to same terror cell
Daily Mail UK, 9 January 2015
Three Islamic jihadists were dead tonight after special forces brought an end to more than two days of slaughter which have left at least 17 dead and spread terror across France. Said (bottom right) and Cherif (top right) Kouachi, the brothers who had assassinated 12 people at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, died in a blaze of gunfire (right) at a printworks near Paris where they had been holed up with one hostage, who survived.
Moments later, dozens of commandos (left) stormed a Jewish grocery 25 miles away in east Paris where accomplice Amedey Coulibaly (top left) was threatening to kill a number of terrified people including women and children. The 32-year-old, responsible for the death of a woman police officer on Thursday, was also 'neutralised' in the assault. Tragically, four hostages were killed while another five were badly wounded. There were reports tonight that another gunman had escaped the scene and Coulibaly was said to be working with 'dangerous' girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene (bottom left) whose whereabouts are unknown.
Witnesses watched in horror as freed hostages fled the scene screaming, some carrying their children in their arms. It emerged tonight that four people had been killed while another five are critically wounded. As many as 30 had survived by hiding in a cold store where they kept silent for hours.
Going in: Special forces storm the Jewish grocery to the east of Paris where terrorist Amedey Coulibaly had taken at least seven people hostage
Terrified: Hostages - who had been held for hours with Coulibaly threatening to kill them - flee from the shop, crying with relief
The bloody climax to the terrorists' rampage began at around 4.30pm when the Kouachi brothers came out firing' Kalashnikovs as officers launched an assault on a building in Dammartin-en-Goele, north-east of Paris. Commandos were seen rappelling from a Puma helicopter on to the roof as flash bang grenades were hurled at the factory to disorientate the jihadists, who had been inside for nine hours. Explosions and automatic gunfire could be heard up to a mile away. Said, 34, and Cherif, 32, were both killed. They had earlier told police that they were 'ready to die as martyrs'. One officer from the elite GIGN commando unit is thought to have been injured, while hostage Michel Catalano – the manager of a design company – escaped unharmed.Shortly after her husband was freed, an emotional Veronique Catalano was waiting to speak to him. 'We very reassured and feel very relieved that it's all over', she said from her home in Othis.'We're still waiting for news. We're not all back together yet.'
Dead: Amedey Coulibaly was shot dead after taking at least six hostages at a grocery store in east Paris. He is believed to be have been working with his girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene (right) who was said to be 'armed and dangerous'
Cherif Kouachi (top), 32, and his brother Said were killed in a firefight with French special forces at a industrial siteAround 15 minutes after special forces took down the Kouachi brothers, the Paris siege was also descending into a bloody fire fight. As dozens of officers poured into the shop close to Porte de Vincennes, eye-witnesses watched freed hostages screaming in panic as they fled the scene.Some carried children. "It's war!" screamed a mother as she dragged her daughter from the scene.Coulibay had warned he would kill all of his hostages if police launched an assault on the Kouachis, who were linked to the same terror cell.
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Bloody climax: A huge ball of fire erupts amid gunfire and explosions as French special forces shoot dead the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen
Explosions were seen moments later at a second hostage siege in Paris where an accomplice was threatening to kill captives if police stormed the Kouachis
More explosions followed and smoke could be seen rising from the building. Others reported seeing ambulances race to the scene.A short time later three French special forces officers could be seen on the roof of the building.Then, at around 5.30 pm, three large helicopters arrived at the scene and landed on the roof. The hostage was named as Michel Catalano.His family were gathered at their detached home in the nearby village of Othis as the siege came to a dramatic end in Dammartin-en-Goele. Police were last night stationed outside the property. One officer told MailOnline:
'The family are all here. They have come to support Mrs Catalano. They are all gathered together but they are too upset to speak.'
Atlantis Farina, 17, who lives close to the scene was returning from high school shortly after 4pm when he heard explosions.'The ground here started shaking, that is what shocked me most,' he said.
'Then there was lots of what sounded like gunfire, it sounded like the suspects were firing back at the police. 'There was smoke too - like they had thrown a grenade. I am so glad it is over, it bought panic to the area. My mum was very worried, and I was quite scared too.'
A man carrying a small child is seen fleeing from the ordeal moments after police stormed the kosher grocery store in eastern Paris
The man is pictured in a second shot, carrying a small child in his arms while the kosher grocery remains illuminated behind himPhilippe Lapotre, 63, was at his home across a field from the factory when he heard the explosions followed by gun fire and came out to see.
'My friends and family have been calling me all day to see if I was ok,' he said. 'When I came out, three huge Puma helicopters came over.'Carole and Thierry Charpentier were at home when the siege ended. 'We have been at home, just watching the television all day,' said Mrs Charpentier. 'We are so very relieved it is over, and are glad the police have got the suspects and the hostage is free. 'We would like the thank and praise the police and the special forces. But we are angry too, that this had happened. We are angry at what horrible things they have done'.
In Paris, police say Coulibaly, 32, was using the hostages as a bargaining chip to try to scupper the police response further north.
In their sights: Police train their weapons on a building where the Charlie Hebdo gunmen are holed up with a hostage in Dammartin-en-Goele
Frantic: Police rush to the scene of the hostage-taking at an industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele around 25 miles from Paris
Siege: The gunmen are surrounded by police commandos who have begun negotiations to try to secure the release of the hostage
Trapped: The brothers were cornered in the premises of a printing firm after leading police on a dramatic car chase
Scoping it out: Police and armed forces take up positions in Dammartin-en-Goele after landing by helicopter in fields near the hostage scene
He was said to be working with a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, considered ‘armed and dangerous’, and is said to have yelled at police: 'You know who I am' when they responded to the shooting.
MailOnline understands that police had earlier scrambled phone signals in the area after the gunmen contacted Coulibay while inside the building.
Revelations that a call was made by the Kouachis suggests they may have instructed Coulibay to carry out today's atrocity to leverage their escape.
There were reports of another alert near the Eiffel Tower, with police seen training their guns down the stairs of a Metro station, but it was a false alarm.
Local media reports that the brothers met Coulibay while in prison.
He is believed to be a fellow member of the Buttes Chaumont – a gang from the 19th arrondissement of Paris that sent jihadists to fight in Iraq.
The Kouachis were cornered in Dammartin-en-Goele, around 25 miles from the capital, this morning after leading police on a dramatic car chase.
After exchanging gunfire with officers, they fled on foot into printing works where they are holding a hostage, believed to be a 26-year-old male.
After a meeting with President Hollande when news of the siege broke, MP Nicolas Dupont-Aignan said: 'It's time to terrorise the terrorists'
Hemmed in: Police officers create a ring of steel around the industrial estate where the Charlie Hebdo killers are holding a hostage
MailOnline understands police scrambled phone signals in the area after the gunmen made contact with a fellow jihadist from the building
How three days of terror unfolded after gunmen first stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday
A salesman called Didier later told how he was supposed to meet a client called Michel at the print works, but was instead met by one of the gunmen.
He said he shook hands with the militant because he had identified himself as a police officer and was carrying a Kalashnikov rifle.
He said:
'When I arrived, my client came out with an armed man who said he was from the police.
'My client told me to leave so I left,' Didier said, identifying the man he was to meet with as Michel.'
He said the black-clad man who was wearing a bullet-proof vest told him: 'Leave, we don't kill civilians anyhow'.
'That really struck me,' Didier added. 'So I decided to call the police. I guess it was one of the terrorists.
'It could have been a policeman if he hadn't told me "we don't kill civilians". They were heavily armed like elite police.'
'I didn't know it was a hostage situation, or a robbery. I just knew something wasn't quite right. I think I am going to go and see my colleagues and play the lottery because I was very lucky this morning.'
Meanwhile, a worker in a nearby building told how he barricaded the doors as the hostage crisis unfolded.
He said:
'None of us feel safe. We can hear the helicopters. It is terrifying.'
One of the pupils inside the Dammartin-en-Goele school said by phone from inside: 'We're scared. We've called our parents to make sure they're OK.
'We've been told we have to stay inside. All the lights have been switched off.'
On guard: A police officer stands along a road near the industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele, some 25 miles north-east of Paris
Police check vehicles near the industrial estate. Residents were warned to stay indoors and pupils were being kept inside school
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WORKER TELLS OF HIS LUCKY ESCAPE AFTER SHAKING HANDS WITH HOSTAGE GUNMAN
A salesman has told how he shook hands with one of the gunman when they arrived at the print works thinking he was a police officer.
He said: 'When I arrived my client came out with an armed man who said he was from the police.
'My client told me to leave so I left,' Didier said, identifying the man he was to meet with as Michel.
'I was in front of the door. I shook Michel's hand and I shook the hand of one of the terrorists.'
He said the black-clad man who was wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying what looked like a Kalashnikov rifle told him: 'Leave, we don't kill civilians anyhow'.
'That really struck me,' Didier added. 'So I decided to call the police. I guess it was one of the terrorists.
'It could have been a policeman if he hadn't told me "we don't kill civilians". They were heavily armed like elite police.'
'I didn't know it was a hostage situation, or a robbery. I just knew something wasn't quite right.
'I think I am going to go and see my colleagues and play the lottery because I was very lucky this morning.'
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Snipers had their weapons trained on the building and helicopters were hovering overhead as negotiations were underway with the Islamic fanatics.
Runways have been closed at Charles de Gaulle airport, around five miles away over fears the gunmen have rocket launchers that can down planes.
Police confirmed a hostage had been taken and that officers are 'trying to establish contact' with the suspects.
The family of Michel Catalano, the director of the firm at the centre of the siege told Le Figaro newspaper that they had not spoken to him since this morning and feared he may be the hostage.
Mr Catalano and his wife Veronique live in Othis, less than four miles from the scene.
After a meeting with President Hollande when news of the siege broke, politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan said:
'It's time to terrorise the terrorists.'
Referring to Islam, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said:
'We are in a war against terrorists, we're not in a war with religion.'
An Interior Ministry source confirmed that the men had said they were 'ready to die as martyrs'.
Prior to the standoff, the suspects hijacked a Peugeot 206 from a woman in Ermenonville Forest, close to the village of Montagny-Sainte-Felicite, agyer abandoning their Renualt Clio.
A teacher named Charlene Blondelle was driving to work in the morning when she saw two men with guns stop the vehicle in front of her.
It was only when she got to work at the village school that she realised the two heavily-armed men were the Kouachi brothers.
Jean Paul Douet, the mayor of the village, said Charlene saw the two men force the woman out of the car and sit in the back seat.
It is thought that she was later let out of the car as the men continued their journey to Dammartin-en-Goele.
Both women are with police officers in Nanteuil-le-Haudouin. It is not thought that the woman sustained any injuries.
Mr Douet told MailOnline:
'The car was taken at around 8.10am. The village teacher arrived at her school to see a car being hijacked in front of her.
'She saw their weapons, and in particular their rocket-propelled grenade launcher.'
French media reported the brothers were in a car when they came upon her and abandoned that to use hers instead.
She recognised them as the wanted men, a police source said.
A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said there was an exchange of gunfire with police who were manning a roadblock on the N2 motorway as the brother sped towards Paris.
He told France Info radio that no-one was injured in the clash.
Holed up: The gunmen escaped on foot into a small printing business (above) called Creating Trend Discovery, just before 9am GMT
Terror in the midst: Dammartin-en-Goele is in lockdown, with children in its three schools being kept inside for their own protection
Dozens of police then pursued the brothers along the National 2 highway, ending in Dammartin-en-Goele, close to the area where the huge manhunt had been focused on a forest overnight.
They escaped on foot with a hostage into a small printing business named Creating Trend Discovery, just before 10am (9am GMT).
Residents were warned on the town's official website to stay indoors and pupils were being kept inside school.
Natoly Ratsimbazasy, a hairdresser in Dammartan-en-Goele, said the town - of 6,000 inhabitants - was deserted.
He told MailOnline:
'It is very quiet in the centre. We have all been told to stay indoors and away from the windows. They have sealed off the area. We are all very scared, especially for the children. We don't know how this is all going to end.'
A restaurateur in the town said: 'It is insane what is happening, I can't believe it.'
Universities and schools in the surroundings of the hostage crisis are shut for the day.
Student Nishanth Selvakumer, 20, said:
'Every one is so shocked. There is not much work in Dammartain so most people work on the industrial estate.
'In the village, they have been told to stay in their homes and stay away from the windows. The schools are all shut and the universities too.'
Rayane Bouallayuer, 18, said his 11-year-old sister and his father were barricaded into the school.
'My sister went to school at 8am but at 9am we saw on TV that the suspects came here so my father went to get her. Now they cannot leave.'
'The teachers have spoken to the kids and explained to them what happened in Paris. Yesterday they had a minutes silence at school but I think today they are very scared. Some of them were crying.
'My family is Muslim but these men are not real Muslims. They are not like me. They do not represent us. Now it is going to get much worse for us real Muslims in France. '
Stake out: Snipers train their weapons on the building as negotiations were underway with the Islamic fanatics
A helicopter searching for Charlie Hebdo suspects hovers above Dammartin-en-Goele as the net closed in on the killers
Universities and schools near the hostage scene have been shut as police set up a ring of steel around Dammartin-en-Goele
Police vans are seen chasing the Charlie Hebdo killers amid fears they have taken hostages on a 'martyrdom mission' towards Paris
Carole Morais, who works in the town hall, said:
'We're locked in and following events on the internet'.
The hunt also affected flights at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, which closed two runways to arrivals to avoid interfering in the standoff or endangering planes.
The dramatic development came after thousands of police and soldiers had focused their hunt for the gunmen in a nearby forest amid fears they were planning a final 'spectacular' before capture.
The search for the gunmen last night focused on a cave in a vast forest in northern France, but had turned up nothing.
The pair left behind their identity cards in the Citroen they used for the massacre – a move which appeared deliberate, intelligence specialists said.
There was also no sign of the AK-47s and rocket launchers which they had earlier been seen with, suggesting they had taken them into the forest.
Police now fear they could take hostages or are planning a final 'spectacular' before capture as the search enters its third day.
Meanwhile, shots rang out close to the Porte de Vincennes in Paris as another hostage crisis unfolded.
'There is a hostage situation - shots have been fired,' said a Paris police spokesman, who said up to five people were originally being held in Vincennes and there were 'believed to be two fatalities'.
French police have now named the suspected hostage taker as Amedy Coulibaly, 33, while his girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, is also believed to be involved.
Footage from a local broadcaster shows a team of heavily armed police officers swarming into the area, where a gunman linked to the Charlie Hebdo killers was holding up to five hostages in a Kosher store in eastern Paris
Armed police face off against the gunman, suspected to the person responsible for shooting policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe yesterda
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SUSPECTED THIRD HOSTAGE-TAKER A 'CLOSE ASSOCIATE' OF THE KOUACHI BROTHERS
The hostage taker in a new terror attack on Paris is a close associate of the Kouachi brothers, who killed 12 people in the Charlie Hebdo massacre two days ago.
Two people have been killed in a Kosher store in eastern Paris where a 'heavily armed' Islamic terrorist is currently holding hostages, police believe.
Sources in the Paris force said the suspected murderer was Amedy Coulibay, 32, who is wearing body armour and brandishing two Kalashnikov automatic weapons.
It's thought that he is of Senegalese origin and attended the Addawa Mosque in Paris with the Kouachi brothers.
As part of a jihadist cell with Said and Cherif Kouachi, he was involved in the failed prison break attempt of Smain Ait Ali Belkacem - the mastermind behind a wave of bombings in France in 1995 which killed eight people and wounded 120.
Coulibay, who was himself jailed in 2010 for his involvement in the plot, has a long history of both petty and serious crimes.
The only boy born in a family of 10 in Juvisy, Essonne, he first came to police attention as a 17-year-old delinquent.
Convictions for theft and drug offences followed. In September 2002 in Orleans, Loiret, he was arrested for the armed robbery of a bank.
It's believed he became involved with the younger of the Kouachi brothers, Cherif, when he was part of a jihadist recruitment ring in Paris that sent fighters to join the conflict in Iraq.
Kouachi was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison.
He is said to be working with a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 27, who is also said to be 'armed and dangerous'.
Coulibaly is thought to have become radicalised when he came under the influence of Djamel Beghal, a French Algerian convicted of terrorism.
Beghal was once accused of being Osama Bin Laden's main European recruiter and has been linked with Cherif Kouachi.
Coulibaly admitted to police he saw Beghal every three weeks but purely for 'religious instruction.' It is understood that he married Hyat Boumeddiene in a religious ceremony after she waited four years for him to come out of jail following his conviction for armed robbery.
The couple were never married in a civil ceremony – the only marriage legally accepted in France.
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Pictured: Police officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe was gunned down as she attended a routine traffic accident in Montrouge at 8am yesterday
Coulibay is believed to be the one responsible for shooting a policewoman dead in south Paris on Thursday.
The revelation has led police to link it to the murder of 12 people around the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine on Wednesday.
Clarissa Jean-Philippe, 27, was unarmed and directing traffic in Montrouge, in south Paris, when she was gunned down by Coulibay, who was still wearing body armour and using an automatic assault rifle.
The murderer has been identified by police who said he belonged to the Buttes Chaumont network, which sent Jihadi fighters to Iraq.
'He was in the same Buttes Chaumount cell as the Kouachi brothers,' said a source close to the investigation. 'He was friends of both of them.'
Two of Coulibay relatives were arrested in nearby Grigny during a police raid this morning.
Like the Kouachis, he is known to have been radicalised by an Islamic preacher in Paris, before expressing a wish to fight in Iraq or Syria.
Police officers stop two people on a scooter at gunpoint as they arrive near the scene of the hostage taking
The pair are aggressively wrestled to the ground by police officers tasked with preventing anyone coming and going from the scene
Police cordons (pictured) have been established to surround the kosher bakery, where it's thought a woman and children are held captive
Unfolding terror: A graphic showing the developments since the shootings at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday morning
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HOW ATTACK ON CHARLIE HEBDO HQ AND THE MASSIVE ANTI-TERROR POLICE MANHUNT HAS UNFOLDED
WEDNESDAY
10.25am: Mother with her young daughter is forced to allow gunmen into offices of Charlie Hebdo
10.30am: Terrorists call out editors by name before executing them, then exit the building
10.30am-10.50am: Gunmen leave the building in a black Citroen, driving up Allee Verte where they encounter a police car. They open fire, wounding a policeman
- While trying to get to nearby Boulevard Richard Lenoir they encounter more police and exchange fire, nobody is injured
- Once on the boulevard they see a policeman on the pavement and open fire before executing him as he lays on the ground
11am: The men crash their Citroen on Rue de Meaux and hijack another vehicle to continue their escape
3.30pm: Raids on apartments in northern Paris, including a home thought to belong to one of the suspects in Gennevilliers
5:30pm: The dead are named as Stephane Charbonnier, editor of Charlie Hebdo, along with Bernard Maris, Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut, aka Cabu, Bernard Verlhac and contributor Philippe Honore
6pm: As darkness falls people take to the streets to hold vigils, holding up signs reading Je Suis Charlie - I am Charlie
10.41pm: Raids take place in Reim as riot police storm buildings of those linked to two suspects. Seven people, thought to be friends of the suspects, are arrested
11pm: Hamid Mourad hands himself in to police in Charleville-Mezieres after seeing his name on social media
THURSDAY
12:31am: Police name shooting suspects as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi
7.45am: Second gun attack in Paris in which a female police officer and a street cleaner are wounded
7.58am: Suspect arrested in connection with second attack, reported to be a North African man with an assault rifle. Another believed to be on the run
9.58am: Female police officer wounded in the second shooting dies at a hospital in Paris
10.34am: Police carry out a raid on a hotel near to where the second attack happened
10.39am: Officers surround a petrol station in Villers-Cotteret, northern Aisne region, after manager said he recognised gunmen
11am: A minute's silence takes place in memory of the 12 killed
11.10am: Surviving Charlie Hebdo staff announce magazine will be published next week
11.30am: Police surround a property in Crepy-En-Valois after suspects reported to be inside
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It came as Prime Minister Manuel Valls admitted the Kouachi brothers were on the radar of the intelligence services and 'were likely' to have been under surveillance before the atrocity.
Yesterday, the brothers abandoned their car near the village of Abbaye de Longpont shortly after robbing a petrol station yesterday.
Anti-terror officers found a jihadi flag and a Molotov ****tail in the Renault Clio the gunmen hijacked to escape the French capital – and two men fitting their descriptions were seen running into the Foret de Retz, which covers an area larger than Paris.
A petrol station attendant in Villers-Cotterets told police he had seen Kalashnikovs (AK-47s) and rocket launchers in the vehicle which had sped away after the men had stolen food and water.
There are fewer than 300 residents in Longpont and armed officers were carrying out house-to-house searches as helicopters with thermal imagery equipment capable of identifying human bodies among the trees were called in.
Last night, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a total of nine people were now in custody and more than 90 witnesses had been interviewed.
When and why that surveillance was dropped were two of the many questions being asked yesterday as a senior American counter-terrorism official confirmed that the brothers were on the US no-fly list.
But officials were tight-lipped about what else they know about them, including whether they fought in the Middle East with extremist groups.
Grief-stricken: Jeannette Bougrab, the partner of 'Charb' – Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of Charlie Hebdo – joins a rally outisde the Paris City Hall. In an emotional interview, she said she always knew he would be assassinated
CNN reported that the US 'was given information from the French intelligence agency that Said Kouachi traveled to Yemen as late as 2011 on behalf of the Al Qaeda affiliate there'.
The network said Said received a variety of weapons training from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), including on how to fire weapons. It added: 'It is also possible Said was trained in bomb making.'
In 2008, Cherif Kouachi was sentenced to three years in jail for his association with an underground organisation.
'While in jail, he came under the influence of the one-time British-based terrorist Djemal Beghal, who was sentenced to ten years in prison by the French courts for terrorist offenders.
But despite the security services knowing the men were radicalised and suspected of having been trained in military tactics in east Yemen by Al Qaeda, they were not under surveillance on Wednesday.
Last night there had already been several revenge attacks, with shots fired at a Muslim prayer room in the southern town of Port-la-Nouvelle.
A Muslim family was shot at in their car in Caromb, in southern Vaucluse, while 'Death to Arabs' was daubed on a mosque in Poitiers, central France.
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FACES OF THE 12 VICTIMS OF THE CHARLIE HEBDO MASSACRE REVEALED
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rench satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo's deputy chief editor Bernard Maris and cartoonists Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut, aka Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Honore (Philippe Honore)
The names of the 12 people killed in cold by blood by three gunmen during a horrifying attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices on Wednesday morning have been revealed.
The dead include eight editorial staff, one worker, one visitor, one policeman, who was on the cartoonists' security detail, and one policeman who was shot dead on the street.
Heroic Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet, who was executed by a terrorist gunman on the streets of Paris while he begged for his life.
Shocking footage of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office shows Mr Merabet on the ground and begging for mercy as he is killed casually by a gunshot to the head. Witnesses say he asked 'do you want to kill me?' before the gunman replied 'OK, chief'.
It is understood that Mr Merabet was a married Parisian cycle cop assigned to the 11th arrondissement – the Paris neighbourhood where Charlie Hebdo's office is located and known for its dining and fine wines.
As the French magazine vowed to publish next week in defiance of the massacre, one French mourner wrote: 'Ahmed Merabet died protecting the innocent from hate. I salute him.'
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Elsa Cyat was the only woman to die in the massacre, while policeman Ahmed Merabet was shot dead in the streets
The second police officer to be killed in the attack was Franck Brinsolaro, 49, a brigadier and protection officer for the magazine's editor Stephane Charbonnier.
The married 49-year-old lived in Bernay, France, and was the father of two children. His wife, Ingrid Brinsolaro, is editor of the Awakening Normand, Bernay, a newspaper that belongs to the group Publihebdos, as Hebdo de Sevre et Maine.
The team at Publihebdos have released a statement regarding the killing.
It read:
'Publihebdos teams are in shock after the cowardly attack and great seriousness that hit Charlie Hebdo today.
'This barbaric attack left many victims including a downed police was the husband of Ingrid Brinsolaro, our editor at Bernay. We are devastated and very sad.'
Mr Charbonnier, the defiant editor whose satirical newspaper dared to poke fun at everything from religion to feminism and spoke out fiercely against political correctness, was another of the 12 victims.
Just two years ago, the 47-year-old - nicknamed Charb - declared:
'I am not afraid of retaliation. I have no children, no wife, no car, no credit,' he said after receiving death threats two years ago. 'It perhaps sounds a bit pompous, but I'd rather die standing than live on my knees.'
Mr Charbonnier, who took over as editor in 2009, grew up in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northern France and joined Charlie Hebdo in the early 1990s as a designer.
The magazine's cartoonists were also targeted by the gunmen in the attack.
Jean 'Cabu' Cabut, the magazine's 76-year-old lead cartoonist was an almost legendary cultural figure in France.
Known by the nickname 'Cabu', he was renowned for his quick wit and youthful style. He was also notorious for his drawing of Mohammed, which sparked fury after adorning the cover of Charlie Hebdo in 2006.
Despite all the controversy, Mr Cabut was insistent that art should not be constrained. Perhaps his most famous quote was:
'Sometimes laughter can hurt – but laughter, humour and mockery are our only weapons.'
Georges Wolinski, an 80-year-old who was as renowned for his colourful home life as he was for being a 'master of satirical illustration'.
Married twice, he once joked about his dying wish, saying:
'I want to be cremated. I said to my wife, 'if you throw the ashes in the toilet, I get to see your bottom every day'.'
Six of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and staff members killed in Wednesday's attack are pictured together in this photo, taken in 2000. Circled top from left is Philippe Honore, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Maris and Jean Cabut. Below them on the stairs, from left, is editor Stephane Charbonnier and cartoonist Bernard 'Tignous' Verlhac
Mr Wolinski was born in Tunis on June 28, 1934 to a Franco-Italian mother and a Polish Jewish father. He joined Hara-Kiri with Cabu in 1960 and became renowned for his cartoons, which spoofed politics and sexuality.
Bernard 'Tignous' Verlhac, was a renowned pacifist. The 57-year-old Parisian had been drawing for the French press since 1980 and originally made his name on comic publication L'idiot international.
Mourners were also last night paying tribute to Philippe Honore, a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo who specialised in 'literary puzzles'. The 73-year-old was born in Vichy, central France, and was first published aged just 16.
Victim Bernard Maris was a Left-wing economist, known to readers as 'Uncle Bernard'. Heartbroken friends said the 68-year-old was a 'cultured, kind and very tolerant man'.
Also killed was Michel Renaud, who did not work for Charlie Hebdo, but had been invited to the magazine's offices as guest editor. He was the founder of 'Rendez-vous de Carnet de Voyage', a travel-themed art festival.
It has been reported that the final two victims are Frédéric Boisseau, a maintenance worker, and Elsa Cayat.
Ms Cayat, the only female victim of the gunmen, was a columnist and analyst for the magazine, according to Le Figaro.
Post mortems will be held on Thursday, according to reports citing the prosecutor of Paris, François Molins.
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