Reports: Hostage-holding Charlie Hebdo gunmen tell police they're prepared for 'martyrdom'

Reports: Hostage-holding Charlie Hebdo gunmen tell police they&#039;re prepared for &#039;martyrdom&#039; — (Image credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

French officials say they have the main suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, cornered in a printing business in Dammartin-en-Goele, with at least one hostage. The police have been in contact with the Kouachi brothers, who say they plan "to die through martyrdom," BBC News reports, citing French media reports.

Dammartin-en-Goele is swarming with heavily armed police and military personnel, and military helicopters are flying overhead; local residents have been told to turn out the lights and stay indoors. Paris is also under heightened security, because a third gunman, the suspect in the shooting death of a policewoman on Thursday, is still at large.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.