Obama briefed on hostage standoffs

President Obama was briefed Friday on two hostage situations in France believed to involve suspects in the terror attack earlier this week on a satirical newspaper, according to a White House official.

It appeared that two brothers, the suspected shooters in the rampage killing at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, had been cornered by police inside a printing house in Dammartin-en-Goele, a town northeast of Paris. Twelve people were killed in the attack on the weekly paper, which sparked international outrage.

{mosads}Separately, a gunman was reportedly holding at least five hostages inside a kosher grocery store in northeastern Paris. That man, who authorities say is linked to the Charlie Hebdo shooters, was thought to be responsible for the killing of a Paris policewoman on Thursday.

Obama on Wednesday vowed to “hunt down” those responsible for the “cowardly, evil attacks” and offered the French government the full assistance of the U.S.

On Thursday, the president convened a call with his national security team for an update into the French investigation of the mass shooting.

Senior officials from the FBI, Justice Department, the CIA, the Director of National Intelligence, National Counterterrorism Center and the Department of Homeland Security were believed to participate in the briefing, which was conducted as the president flew back to Washington from Arizona.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said there had been “frequent conversations between a variety of American national security officials and their French counterparts, including conversations between members of our intelligence community.”