Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices | World news | The GuardianParis attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices | World news | The Guardian










Close






Skip to main content

 









sign in








subscribe









search




jobs






more


from the guardian:


jobs


change edition:



switch to the UK edition


switch to the AU edition







US edition




switch to the UK edition




switch to the Australia edition













The Guardian


Winner of the Pulitzer prize











home


›
world




UK


europe


americas


asia


middle east


africa


australia










home




US




world
selected




opinion




sports




soccer




tech




arts




lifestyle




fashion




business




money




travel




environment







browse all sections
close







 











France



Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices









Mobilisation of 10,000 troops to guard potentially vulnerable locations comes as prime minister warns that ‘threat still present’
























Sorry, your browser is unable to play this video.
Please install Adobe Flash™ and try again.
Alternatively upgrade to a modern browser.





Traumatised hostages are led away from the Paris supermarket siege after French police stormed the building on Friday.



Peter Walker


Monday 12 January 2015 10.33 EST







Share on Facebook







Share on Twitter







Share via Email







Share on LinkedIn







Share on Google+







Share on WhatsApp
















France is deploying 10,000 troops around the country and sending almost 5,000 police to protect Jewish sites as it searches for possible accomplices to the attackers who killed 17 people last week.
The prime minister, Manuel Valls, said the gunman who killed four people a day after shooting dead a policewoman in southern Paris, probably received help. Valls said the search for any co-conspirators was urgent because “the threat is still present” even after the attacks.
“The work on these attacks, on these terrorist and barbaric acts continues ... because we consider that there are most probably some possible accomplices,” he told BFM television.
The defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said the troops would guard potentially vulnerable locations.



“We have decided … to mobilise 10,000 men to protect sensitive sites in the whole country from tomorrow [Tuesday] evening,” he said after a national security crisis meeting.
“This is the first time that our troops have been mobilised to such an extent on our own soil.
“The threats remain and we have to protect ourselves from them. It is an internal operation that will mobilise almost as many men as we have in our overseas operations.”
Seven hundred police officers are being placed at the 717 Jewish schools across the country, in addition to the 4,100 gendarmes already deployed. Four captives were killed in the hostage-taking by Amédy Coulibaly at a Jewish supermarket in Paris on Friday.
Coulibaly was killed on Friday afternoon as police stormed the supermarket. This happened shortly after brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, who killed 12 people on Wednesday when they attacked the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, were shot dead by police ending a siege at a printing firm outside the French capital.



A boy pays tribute to the victims of a hostage-taking at a kosher supermarket near Porte de Vincennes.
Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters


It was not clear exactly how many accomplices French forces were hunting for in addition to Hayat Boumeddienne, the partner of Coulibaly, who is being sought by police in connection with the supermarket siege. Turkey’s foreign minister said on Monday she had crossed into Syria from Turkey on Thursday last week.
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that Boumeddienne arrived in Turkey from Madrid on 2 January, before any of the attacks, and stayed at a hotel in Istanbul. He said Turkish authorities had established she crossed into Syria on Thursday, the day Coulibaly shot dead Clarissa Jean-Philippe, a 27-year-old newly trained police officer. CCTV footage from Istanbul airport purports to show Boumeddienne going through passport control on 2 January.



A screengrab of CCTV footage appearing to show Hayat Boumeddiene going through passport control at Istanbul airport on 2 January
Photograph: screengrab


The French president, François Hollande, chaired the national security crisis meeting on Monday, with participants including Valls and the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, as well as the heads of police and the security services.
The security measures follow the release of a video in which Coulibaly pledged his allegiance to Islamic State (Isis), while nonetheless saying he had collaborated with the Kouachi brothers, who said during their attacks they were allied to al-Qaida, a bitter opponent of Isis.
Coulibaly said he had worked with Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, calling them the “brothers from our team”, and had helped them financially. “We did things a bit together and a bit apart, so that it’d have more impact,” he said in the video, which also featured weapons and ammunition.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said on Monday that he would travel to Paris this week for talks on countering extremist violence. The move follows criticism of the Obama administration for not sending anyone senior to Sunday’s vast rally for unity in Paris.



A man holds a giant pencil aloft during the rally in Paris on Sunday.
Photograph: Stephane Mahe/Reuters


The march gathered between 1.5 million and 2 million people on the streets of the French capital, and was the biggest crowd there since the city was liberated in August 1944. An estimated 3.7 million took to the streets across the country.
Many marchers carried pens, pencils and placards with slogans including Nous sommes la République (We are the Republic) and Je suis Muslim; others carried French flags and chanted: On est tous Charlie (We are all Charlie).
At the head of the march were the families and friends of the victims of last week’s attacks, followed by a group of about 50 world leaders walking arm in arm, including Hollande, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, David Cameron, and the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.



Binymain Netanyahu, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, François Hollande, Angela Merkel, Donald Tusk and Mahmoud Abbas at the rally in Paris.
Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/AP


In one emotional scene, Hollande hugged Patrick Pelloux, an A&E doctor who is also a journalist at Charlie Hebdo. Pelloux arrived late at the magazine office on Wednesday to find many of his colleagues had been killed. He and other survivors have vowed to publish Charlie Hebdo next Wednesday despite the attack, with a record print run of 1m copies.
• Associated Press contributed to this report



Topics



France




Paris




Charlie Hebdo attack




Protest








Share on Facebook







Share on Twitter







Share via Email







Share on LinkedIn







Share on Google+







Share on WhatsApp



















 






more on this story














Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video

File footage of one of the Paris gunmen, Cherif Kouachi, arriving at court in 2008 on charges of helping to funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency



Published: 13 Jan 2015




Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video












Analysis Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris

The radicalisation of the Kouachi brothers began in a picturesque park in the capital while Amédy Coulibaly took the first steps towards terrorism in prison, but what the three had in common was growing up on the margins of French society



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris












Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras

Officials try to pinpoint when and where cameras found in possession of Kouachi brothers and Amédy Coulibaly were obtained



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras












Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly

Yaguel Yaacov official says she has strong presumption her school, not kosher supermarket, was jihadi’s real target



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly














Analysis Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based








Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis








Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends

Olivier Tonneau




Published: 13 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends








Paris unity rally: France on the march for fraternity and for freedom

Natalie Nougayrède in Paris




Published: 11 Jan 2015







Paris unity rally: France on the march for fraternity and for freedom
















popular












 








The Guardian






back to top














home




US




world
selected




opinion




sports




soccer




tech




arts




lifestyle




fashion




business




money




travel




environment







all sections
close







home




US




world
selected




UK




europe




americas




asia




middle east




africa




australia






opinion




sports




soccer




MLS




NFL




MLB




NBA




NHL






soccer




live scores




tables




competitions




results




fixtures




clubs






tech




games






arts




movies




tv & radio




music




books




art & design




stage




classical






lifestyle




food




health




love & sex




family




women




home & garden






fashion




business




markets




companies






money




travel




USA




europe




UK






environment




development




cities






science




media




crosswords




video











World




›
France








jobs

subscribe
all topics
all contributors

info and resources

contact us

feedback

complaints & corrections
terms & conditions
privacy policy
cookie policy
securedrop


© 2015 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.






















 
