After the Charlie Hebdo slaughter, French Special Forces ended two sieges in a hail of heavy gunfire and explosions last night. Here is how the drama unfolded:
Jan 8, 8.45am: Unarmed policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe shot dead in Paris suburb Montrouge.
10.25am: Charlie Hebdo killers Cherif and Said Kouachi steal food, water and fuel from service station in Villers-Cotterets, then dump their car near the village of Abbaye de Longpont and flee into the Foret de Retz, a dense woodland covering area larger than Paris.
Yesterday, 8.10am: After police scour forest overnight, Kouachi brothers hijack grey Peugeot 206 driven by a woman teacher near Montagny-Sainte-Felicite. During a Paris-bound chase, they fire at pursuing police vehicles.
8.50am: Gunmen abandon vehicle at print works in Dammartin-en-Goule, near Charles de Gaulle Airport, and take 26-year-old male hostage. Residents ordered to stay indoors. Armed police surround building. Brothers declare they want to ‘die as martyrs’.
8.55am: A salesman named Didier arrives and shakes hand of gunman who tells him to leave saying: ‘We don’t kill civilians anyhow.’
12.26pm: Gunman takes ten hostage at Jewish supermarket in Paris suburb of Port de Vincennes. Amedy Coulibaly tells police: ‘You know who I am.’ He is suspected of killing the policewoman. 2.30pm PARIS: Coulibaly threatens to kill hostages if police storm printworks.
3.55pm DAMMARTIN:
Bursts of gunfire and stun grenade explosions ring out as police storm building. The two fanatics emerge, shooting.
4.11pm PARIS: A telephone not properly placed on the holder has allowed police to hear inside supermarket. When Coulibaly starts prayers, police launch attack.
4.18pm DAMMARTIN: Police confirm Kouachi brothers are dead and hostage freed alive. 4.36pm PARIS: Police say Coulibaly and four hostages killed. Incredibly, some escape by hiding in cold storage.
5.54pm PARIS: Unconfirmed reports claim Coulibaly’s ‘armed and dangerous’ girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, was inside. Other reports claim second male gunman had been involved in siege. Both said to be on the run.