France hunts for two suspects

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Scattered gunfire and explosions shook France yesterday even as heavily armed anti-terrorism police swooped on woodland villages northeast of Paris in a manhunt for two brothers suspected of being the Islamist gunmen who killed 12 people at a French satirical weekly.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the two suspects - Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34 - were known to France's intelligence services. Cherif Kouachi was convicted of terrorism in 2008 for ties to network that sends radical fighters to Iraq. His lawyer confirmed yesterday that police tracked down the identities of the brothers because one left his ID behind in a getaway car.

About two dozen helmeted and masked officers carried out house-to-house searches in the village of Corcy, a few miles from a service station where police sources said the brothers were sighted in ski masks. Helicopters flew overhead.

About 24 hours into the manhunt, they were identified after robbing the village petrol station, 80km from Paris, before fleeing again, possibly on foot and still armed with at least a Kalashnikov, police said. However, an official later said the men had not yet been located.

The two suspects should be considered "armed and dangerous," French police said in a bulletin. A third suspect, Mourad Hamyd, 18, surrendered at a police station after hearing his name linked to the attacks. A French security official said seven people had been arrested overnight in the investigation.

French President Francois Hollande called for tolerance after the country's worst terrorist attack in decades. At noon, the Paris metro came to a standstill and a crowd fell silent near Notre Dame cathedral to honour Wednesday's victims.

Tensions ran high in Paris, where 800 extra police patrolled schools, places of worship and transit hubs. Around the world, from Berlin to Bangkok, thousands filled squares and streets for a second day, holding up pens to protect the right to freedom of speech.

Meanwhile, several other incidents rocked the jittery nation. Just south of Paris, a man with an automatic rifle shot dead a policewoman and wounded a city employee. There was also an explosion at a kebab shop in eastern France.

Also, two explosions hit near mosques in France, raising fears the deadly attack at Charlie Hebdo was igniting a backlash against France's large and diverse Muslim community.