Terrorists Dead in Paris Standoffs, Captives Freed

Two related hostage standoffs have come to a close in Paris, after a week of terror that started with a massacre at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

During one standoff, law enforcement forces killed Said and Cherif Kouachi, the two top terror suspects in this week's Charlie Hebdo massacre, and freed their hostage.

The two brothers were cornered by SWAT teams earlier Friday after taking the hostage at a printing house northeast of Paris.

Authorities also killed a third hostage taker who had taken five people captive at a Kosher grocery in another part of the city. Officials believe the suspect is behind Thursday's killing of a female police officer.

Police said three hostages also died at the grocery.

According to one police official, both sets of terrorists apparently knew each other.

The  Kouachi brothers had been under surveillance by French police for years and were on a U.S. no-fly list.

In early 2011, the older brother, Said, reportedly traveled to Yemen and trained with an al Qaeda-affiliated group led by Anwar al Awlaki, the U.S-born Islamic preacher who was killed that same year in a CIA drone strike.

Said's younger brother, Cherif, was arrested in 2008 for trying to join up with Islamic fighters in Iraq. While in prison, he reportedly shared a cell with a key al Qaeda operative.

The French-born sons of Algerian parents were the main suspects in Wednesday's shooting that killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper that often made fun of Islam and its prophet Mohammed.

In Paris and cities across France, people are gathering to pay tribute to those killed at the French magazine.

"I'm an art student," a man named Eugene said. "We stress freedom when we study art. This attack is shocking. I wrote on the note that, 'We must struggle for freedom, from beginning to end."

Meanwhile, in a rare public speech, the head of British intelligence said al Qaeda in Syria is plotting large-scale attacks on public transport systems and iconic targets in the West.

"It is too early for us to come to judgments about the precise details or origin of the attack, but it is a terrible reminder of the intentions of those who wish us harm," MI5 chief Andrew Parker said.

Parker's warning comes as European spy agencies worry about the increasing threat from homegrown jihadists, especially those returning from battlefields in Syria and Iraq.

The numbers are alarming: 600 British, 550 German, and some 1,200 French citizens are believed to be fighting in Syria. The big concern is someday they'll return home to their European capitals even more radicalized and ready to kill.

Hours after the massacre in Paris, the terror group known as ISIS, or Islamic State, hailed the two brothers as "heroic jihadist."

An ISIS cleric reportedly said his group was responsible for the attack saying, "We started with the France operation for which we take responsibility. Tomorrow will be in Britain, America, and others."