Paris attack suspects killed as crisis ends with four hostages' deaths

French President François Hollande said four hostages had been killed calling the episode an “appalling, anti-Semitic act”. "These madmen, fanatics, have nothing to do with the Muslim religion," he said.

The suspected magazine attack brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, were holding a hostage at  the printworks warehouse north of France capital Paris where they were holed up.

Smoke billowed out of the house and helicopter hovered above as the assault ended with the two bothers - Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34- being killed after they came out and challenged police by firing at them.

Slain suspect Kouachi Sharif told BFM TV that they have been commissioned and funded by "Al-Qaeda in Yemen" and been trained by Imam Anwar Al Awaki, an American preacher who lived in Yemen, long considered a mastermind of Al Qaeda and killed by a US drone in September 2011, according the channel's website.

He told BFM TV: "We are the defenders of the prophet."

Security forces  killed another gunman who seized hostages at a  kosher (Jewish) supermarket in eastern Paris, but there four hostages were  killed by the suspect though many were freed.

The Paris market hostage taker who has been killed now was suspected to be behind the fatal shooting of a policewoman in Montrouge in southern Paris on Thursday.

According to reports, remaining hostages, including the one at  the warehouse where the brothers were hiding, have been freed.

French ambassador to the United State Gerard Araud tweeted: "#CharlieHebdo. The two terrorists are dead. The hostage is alive."

Speaking on the other hostage crisis in the country, he said: "The kosher supermarket has been stormed. The terrorist is dead. The hostages are alive."

US President Barack Obama said: "I want the people of France to know that the United States stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow."

Meanwhile amid backlashes and attacks on mosques and a rising anti-immigrant sentiment over the killings, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement: "Our Muslim countrymen are afraid today." He urged French people to be compassionate and not link the terrorist acts to their Muslim neighbours.

France witnessed a dark day in its history on Jan 7 with gunmen attacking the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killing at least 12 people , including cartoonists and two policemen, as global leaders joined to condemn the incident.