Kosher supermarket attack linked to Paris massacre

A police official says the man who has taken at least five people hostage in a kosher market on the eastern edges of Paris Friday appears linked to the newsroom massacre earlier this week that left 12 people dead.

• Live updates on the two hostage situations in Paris

The official, who was not authorized to speak about the situation, said the man opened fire in the kosher market, near Paris’ Porte de Vincennes, and declared “you know who I am.”

Combination photo of, Amedy Coulibaly, left, and Hayet Boumddiene, two suspects named by police as accomplices in the kosher market attack. [AP Photo/Prefecture de Police de Paris]

Paris police released a photo of Amedy Coulibaly as a suspect in the killing Thursday of a policewoman, and the official named him as the man holed up in the market. He said the man is armed with an automatic rifle and some hostages have been gravely wounded. He said a second suspect, a woman named Hayet Boumddiene, is the gunman’s accomplice.

Helmeted SWAT squads converged on the standoff. The French president ordered the country’s top security official to the scene, an official in the presidency told The Associated Press.

The two men suspected in Wednesday’s attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo have been on the run since gunning down 12 people and remain cornered by police about 30 kilometres (18 miles) away.

France has been high alert for other attacks since the newspaper massacre.

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