Friday, January 9, 2015

Two hostage situations in France, both related to Islamic extremism. Yahoo/AP.

Police respond to the second hostage situation. Yahoo/AP

Two separate hostage dramas are unfolding in France. Both seem to be connected to the Charlie Hebdo killings. 

The newest hostage situation is in Paris Porte de Vincennes where two suspects are hold five people in a Kosher market. Yahoo/AP. The suspects, a man named Amedy Coulibaly and a woman named Hayet Boumddine, are armed with an automatic rifle. The two suspects are believed to have killed a police officer and may have been involved in the Charlie Hebdo attack. The suspect aannouncedto onlookers that they "know who I am" and open fire. It is possible that some of the hostages are "gravely wounded".

The other hostage situation is in a small printing house in Dammartin-En-Goele. Yahoo/AP. The suspects in this case are the Kouachi brothers, Cherif and Said, suspected in the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Police are in contact with the brothers and they have told the police that they want to die as martyrs. The situation began with a carjacking. The driver of the car said that one of the brothers was armed with a automatic rifle and a possible grenade launcher as well. At least one hostage has been taken as well. Both brothers have links to Islamic extremists and have received training. Schools in the area have evacuated

My Comment:
Here is a list of live feeds again:

This is obviously very bad news and not just because of the potential loss of life. France is going to be hard pressed to effectively respond to two separate hostage situations. This cell seems to be highly motivated, well trained and bound and determined to cause as much chaos as possible. Much like the hostage situation in Australia recently, I don't see this ending well. CNN is saying that it is possible that the terrorists might not want to hurt the hostages but I don't buy that. These people have killed plenty of innocent people, so I think they are capable of anything.

The good news is that the French police and military are top notch. It is possible that their negotiators will be able to convince these people to stand down. It isn't a sure thing but at least it is a possibility. They won't be using the Russian method of killing everyone, hostages and hostage takers alike. And if things do go south, the French forces will do their jobs professionally. With luck no one will die, but with a little less luck, only the hostage takers will die.

I'm also kind of shocked that one of the hostage takers is a woman. I know that there have been Islamist women used as suicide bombers but that has been fairly rare. Women are certainly capable of extreme violence, but aren't generally seen as a major threat. I'll never understand why women would want to fight for people that treat them like garbage, but who know what this woman's motivations are. 

I'll keep track of this situation for awhile. I'd like to keep track of it all morning but, unfortunately, I have other things I have to do today. I will try and post an update post this evening.

UPDATE: CNN is reporting blasts and gunfire at the printing house.

UPDATE #2: All the hostage takers are dead. Sounds like all the hostages made it as well. One cop hurt.

UPDATE #3: Reuters is reporting that four hostages were killed at the Kosher Market. Not sure if they were killed in the raid or before. 

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