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World editor Owen Ullmann talks about the Paris attacks and how home-grown terrorism is often impossible for officials to prevent. USA TODAY
Armed security patrols around the Eiffel Tower on Friday in Paris.(Photo: Dan Kitwood, Getty Images)
PARIS — Authorities tightened security in France's capital city Saturday amid fears of new attacks after a series of deadly terror assaults rattled the nation.
The French government maintained its terror alert system at the highest level in Paris, and a heavy security presence was easily visible on city streets as well as at houses of worship, landmarks and government buildings.
"There is risk (of another attack)," said French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. "We are creating a defense zone, to deploy a reaction force should it become necessary."
French law enforcement officers have been told to erase their presence on social media and to carry their weapons at all times because terror sleeper cells have been activated over the last 24 hours in the country, CNN reported citing an unnamed French police source.
The two brothers — Cherif, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34 — who attacked the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo earlier this week may have been part of a sleeper cell, Morten Storm, a Danish national who spied on al-Qaeda for Danish, British and American intelligence, told ABC News.
"What I can say from my experience or from my knowledge is that these people here have managed to deceive French intelligence to believe that, while they were once extremists, they no longer were," Storm said. "So they managed to get under the radar and… they finally woke up again, like a sleeper cell, and (committed) this atrocity."
A massive manhunt for a female suspect, Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, linked to the series of deadly terror attacks could be called off amid reports she is no longer in France and appears to have left before the terror attacks struck that nation.
A Turkish intelligence official told the Associated Press on Saturday that a woman with the same name and resembling a widely distributed photo of Boumeddiene flew to Istanbul on Jan. 2. Authorities believe she traveled to Sanliurfa near the Syrian border on Jan. 4, then disappeared. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to the AP because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record.
Boumeddiene had been wanted in connection with the Thursday shooting death of a policewoman, Clarissa Jean-Philippe, 27. A police bulletin on Friday described her and as armed and dangerous. Her common-law husband Amedy Coulibaly, 32, was also suspected in Thursday's attack before he launched an assault a kosher supermarket Friday in Paris, killing four.
French President Francois Hollande held an emergency security meeting Saturday with top government and security officials to discuss the multiple attacks that rattled the nation for the past three days. Five people are in custody in connection with the attacks, and family members of the attackers have been given preliminary charges, police said Saturday.
The government is taking necessary measures to guarantee safety at a unity rally planned for Sunday that aims to show a united front against terrorism, Cazeneuve said.
The demonstration is expected to draw hundreds of thousands, including a host of world leaders. Among those expected to attend: British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb.
The rally "must show the power, the dignity of the French people who will be shouting out of love of freedom and tolerance," Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Saturday.
"Journalists were killed because they defended freedom. Policemen were killed because they were protecting you. Jews were killed because they were Jewish," he said. "The indignation must be absolute and total — not for three days only, but permanently."
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands across France turned out in vigils to honor those killed. In Toulouse to the south, more than 100,000 people took to the streets. In Nice, the number topped 20,000, according to French broadcaster RTL.
At the site of supermarket standoff in the capital, many came to lay flowers behind a police barricade still blocking the area. An imam and a rabbi prayed together, while dozens, mainly Jews from the neighborhood, stopped to pay tribute to the victims of the attack.
Jews, Muslims and other locals from the Saint-Mandé district where four people were killed in the supermarket attack braved pouring rain late Saturday afternoon to remember the victims and show their unity.
The prevalent mood in the crowd of about 1,000 at the district's town hall was one of defiance and harmony despite growing fears that the Jewish community may be singled out for additional attacks. Many were carrying flyers that expanded the slogan "Je Suis (I am) Charlie" to include "Je Suis Flic (policeman)," and "Je Suis Casher (Jewish)" in a bid to highlight that the victims of this week's attacks represented a wide swath of French society.
Sharon Klugman, a student from Paris, joined the rally to pay homage to her friend Yohan Cohen, a 19-year-old employee at the supermarket who died in the attack.
"He was a guy who loved life. We are very sad, the entire Jewish community is sad because of what happened," she said.
The four store fatalities were all Jews, France's leading Jewish organization, CRIF, confirmed Saturday. The organization identified the victims of the attack Friday as Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada.
Hollande, speaking to the nation after the attack was over Friday called it "an appalling anti-Semitic act."
"These French citizens were struck down in a cold-blooded manner and mercilessly because they were Jews," CRIF said in a statement Saturday.
Earlier, a small number converged to Place de la Republique to pay their respects, lighting candles and leaving pens at the feet of the giant statue of Marianne — France's national symbol — to show their defiance against what they see as a threat to freedom of expression in France.
Student Florian Gras, 20, was selling "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) stickers to passersby in a bid to raise funds to keep alive the satirical newspaper, where 12 were killed earlier this week. Guardian Media Group — the publisher of U.K. newspaper The Guardian — Google and a number of private donors have pledged funds to the publication, while the French government is considering public backing to bankroll Charlie Hebdo, which has vowed to print 1 million copies of its next edition.
"I am very saddened by what happened, I have been closely touched because a friend of mine knew Cabu," he said. Jean Cabut, known as Cabu, was a beloved cartoonist in France who had been involved with Charlie Hebdo since the 1970s.
"There will be more attacks like this I am afraid, and I am sure there will be reprisals against Muslims," he added.
Banking executive Pascale Lacombrade, 50, felt Parisians from all backgrounds seemed united in the face of such an unprecedented attack.
"I feel that the revulsion against what happened is shared by everybody."
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The suspects in the 'Charlie Hebdo' shooting, who took multiple people hostage, have been killed by police. VPC
The developments came a day after police mounted simultaneous attacks on two hostage standoffs about 30 miles apart.
The assaults killed the Kouachi brothers, who had been holed up in a printing warehouse in the village of Dammartin-en-Goele. Minutes later, officers stormed the supermarket, killing Coulibaly, who had seized hostages in the capital.
Four people were killed when Coulibaly entered the store and opened fire, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said late Friday. Fifteen hostages in the grocery were freed. A hostage held by the Kouachi brothers was also freed. Several people — including two police officers — were reported wounded.
Coulibaly and Boumeddiene — the supermarket gunman's common-law wife — were wanted in the shooting death of a policewoman in Paris on Thursday. In an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV during the standoff, Coulibaly claimed the attack on the officer and the Kouachi brothers' assault on a French satirical newspaper were "coordinated."
During the hostage crisis Friday, Coulibaly reportedly threatened to kill hostages if authorities launched an assault on the two brothers.
The Kouachi brothers were the target of an intense, two-day manhunt after they killed 12 people — eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor — and wounded 11 others in the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.
Hours after Friday's standoffs ended, al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen said it had "directed" the massacre at the publication "as revenge for the honor" of prophet Mohammed, according to a statement.The weekly paper has published cartoons caricaturing Mohammed.
Lackey reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Jessica Estepa and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY; the Associated Press
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