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Paris hostage-taker ‘knows’ one Charlie Hebdo killer: source

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A gunman holding hostages in a Paris kosher supermarket on Friday knew at least one of the suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, a source told AFP.

Amedy Coulibaly, 32, wanted over the killing of a policewoman on Thursday, is thought to be the man holed up with hostages in the grocery store at the Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris.

At least two people have been killed in the stand-off, a source told AFP.

French police take up position by the kosher grocery store in Saint-Mande  near Porte de Vincennes  ...
French police take up position by the kosher grocery store in Saint-Mande, near Porte de Vincennes, on January 9, 2015
Eric Feferberg, AFP

Coulibaly is believed to have links to Cherif Kouachi, also 32, one of the two men suspected of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo magazine massacre on Wednesday that killed 12.

Kouachi and Coulibaly were seen together in 2010 while visiting another jihadist Djamel Beghal, mastermind of a failed prison break-out plot.

Coulibaly was convicted for his part in the planned break and was well-known to anti-terrorist police. Charges against Kouachi were dropped in the case.

The man they were trying to break out was Algerian Islamist Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002 for a bombing at the Musee d'Orsay metro station in Paris in October 1995 that left around 30 injured.

French police believe Amedy Coulibaly has taken hostages at a kosher grocery store at the Porte  de...
French police believe Amedy Coulibaly has taken hostages at a kosher grocery store at the Porte  de Vincennes in eastern Paris, on January 9, 2015
-, French Police/AFP

Police released a mugshot of Coulibaly and his wife Hayat Boumeddiene, 32.

A gunman holding hostages in a Paris kosher supermarket on Friday knew at least one of the suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, a source told AFP.

Amedy Coulibaly, 32, wanted over the killing of a policewoman on Thursday, is thought to be the man holed up with hostages in the grocery store at the Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris.

At least two people have been killed in the stand-off, a source told AFP.

French police take up position by the kosher grocery store in Saint-Mande  near Porte de Vincennes  ...

French police take up position by the kosher grocery store in Saint-Mande, near Porte de Vincennes, on January 9, 2015
Eric Feferberg, AFP

Coulibaly is believed to have links to Cherif Kouachi, also 32, one of the two men suspected of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo magazine massacre on Wednesday that killed 12.

Kouachi and Coulibaly were seen together in 2010 while visiting another jihadist Djamel Beghal, mastermind of a failed prison break-out plot.

Coulibaly was convicted for his part in the planned break and was well-known to anti-terrorist police. Charges against Kouachi were dropped in the case.

The man they were trying to break out was Algerian Islamist Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002 for a bombing at the Musee d’Orsay metro station in Paris in October 1995 that left around 30 injured.

French police believe Amedy Coulibaly has taken hostages at a kosher grocery store at the Porte  de...

French police believe Amedy Coulibaly has taken hostages at a kosher grocery store at the Porte  de Vincennes in eastern Paris, on January 9, 2015
-, French Police/AFP

Police released a mugshot of Coulibaly and his wife Hayat Boumeddiene, 32.

AFP
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With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

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