French police hunt door to door for terror suspects

PARIS — Thousands of French police searched house to house Thursday in a forested area north of Paris where two suspects wanted in the terrorist killings at a satirical newspaper were reportedly seen and may have robbed a gas station.

As France observed a day of mourning for the victims of Wednesday's attack that left 12 dead and 11 wounded, police warned that the two suspects, who are brothers, should be considered armed and dangerous.

Ninety people have been questioned in the investigation, and nine people close to the two suspects — Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his older brother Said, 34 — were detained for further questioning, the Associated Press reported.

The brothers were on a U.S. no-fly watch list, said a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak on the case publicly. One of them, Said, traveled to Yemen in 2011, raising the prospect that he had training or direction, the official said.

In Washington, President Obama paid his respects at the French Embassy on Thursday, declaring "terror is no match for freedom" and filling nearly a page in a condolence book.

France extended its maximum terror alert from Paris to the northern Picardie region, focusing on several towns that might be safe havens for the two suspects, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

French President Francois Hollande called for tolerance in the aftermath of the attack on the weekly Charlie Hebdo. At noon, the Paris metro came to a standstill, and a crowd fell silent near Notre Dame cathedral to honor the victims of the attack. In the evening, the lights on the Eiffel Tower were briefly switched off in tribute.

"France has been struck directly in the heart of its capital, in a place where the spirit of liberty — and thus of resistance — breathed freely," Hollande said.

Police in tactical assault gear went door to door in the village of Corcy, northeast of Paris, France24 reported. The fugitives were spotted near the small town of Villers-Cotterêts, about an hour's drive northeast of Paris, AFP reported.

In the village of Longpont, in a heavily forested area, hotel owner Benoit Verdun said police had launched a major operation.

"There are lots of policemen. I can see a huge police car," he told Sky News. "They are asking people, 'Have you seen anybody?' They have big guns with them. The forest is bigger than Paris — it is very big and very wide."

At a gas station near Longpont, a clerk reported he was robbed Thursday by two armed men fitting the description of the suspects. The clerk told police the pair drove a gray Citroen with blacked out license plates, France24 reported. Police in armored vehicles and helicopters swarmed the area.

Wednesday, gunmen wearing hoods and carrying Kalashnikov rifles burst into the editorial offices of the newspaper and opened fire in what they shouted was a mission to avenge the publication of cartoons caricaturing the prophet Mohammed. They fled in a stolen car.

A third suspect, Hamyd Mourad, 18, surrendered at a police station early Thursday in Charleville-Mezieres, a small town in France's eastern Champagne region, Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said.

Mourad's role in the attack, if any, remains unclear. The teenager has an alibi, telling authorities he was at school at the time, the BBC reported.

The nation bolstered security. More than 800 extra soldiers guarded media offices, places of worship, transportation and other sensitive areas.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will travel to Paris this weekend to attend an International Ministerial meeting Sunday. The French minister of the Interior called the meeting in response to the attacks. The meeting will include discussions on addressing terrorist threats, foreign fighters and countering violent extremism

French citizens from a wide spectrum of age, ethnic and religious groups condemned the assault that has rocked the country.

"The tone has been very somber, " said Danite Airfane, 21, of Paris, an intern at the International Chamber of Commerce. "At the ICC, we observed a moment of silence at noon."

She said she felt safe as beefed-up security has meant "police cars on almost every block."

"There were demonstrations in half of the city," Airfane said. "There were no Islamophobic currents in the demonstrations and solidarity for the families."

Stanglin reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara in London; Kevin Johnson in Washington; William Cummings in McLean; and William M. Welch in Los Angeles; and the Associated Press