DAMMARTIN-EN-GOËLE, France—In the dramatic standoff Friday with gunmen suspected of attacking French magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, police had an unlikely ally: a person hiding inside the building sending text messages. 
 
 His intelligence input gave police a critical edge in timing the assault, according to a police officer. 
 
 The situation unfolded at a printing facility north of Paris, where Said and Chérif Kouachi holed up... ||||| An employee at the printing business besieged by the Charlie Hebdo attackers was able to help police kill the terrorists after texting tactical information to them. 
 
 The 26-year-old graphic designer, who has been named in reports as Lilian Lepere, took refuge "under a sink in the canteen" upstairs at the business in Dammartin-en-Goele, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. 
 
 Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi were holed up there after killing 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and going on the run. 
 
 A source told the AFP news agency Mr Lepere was "terrified". 
 
 But despite this, he managed to remain undetected and began communicating with police outside via text message. 
 
 Play video "How Paris Events Unfolded" Video: How Paris Events Unfolded 
 
 Mr Lepere sent them "tactical elements such as his location inside the premises", Mr Molins said. 
 
 The source added that Mr Lepere could hear the suspects talking, which helped reassure him and gave him more information to send to the forces outside. 
 
 A separate source said the man was also able to communicate with his family. 
 
 The brothers had taken the manager of the store hostage, but released him after he helped Said with a neck wound he had sustained in a firefight with police. 
 
 Play video "Jihadist Was 'Kind And Agreeable'" Video: Jihadist Was 'Kind And Agreeable' 
 
 At around 5pm local time on Friday, automatic gunfire and explosions could be heard as police moved in to end the siege. 
 
 Officials said the brothers had emerged from the building and opened fire on police before they were killed. 
 
 An armoured car gave them access to the upper floor to free Mr Lepere, a source said. 
 
 He was taken to police headquarters, where he was quickly reunited with his family, another source close to the case said, adding he was "shocked" but "OK". 
 
 1 / 28 Gallery: From Car Chase To Last Stand Two brothers suspected of killing 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris have been killed. They had earlier taken one person hostage as police cornered the gunmen in the area, northeast of Paris 
 
 Mr Lepere's father said the family was "doing fine", and thanked the police and the "people who helped". 
 
 At the same time, the siege at a kosher supermarket in Paris was also coming to a bloody end. 
 
 It began when Amedy Coulibaly, who is believed to be an ally of the brothers, went into the store and took out a Kalashnikov. 
 
 A father called Ilan and his three-year-old son quickly hid in the supermarket's refrigeration unit after Coulibaly burst in, two relatives told AFP. 
 
 Play video "Special Report - Paris Attack" Video: Special Report - Paris Attack 
 
 Sources close to the investigation said at least three other people were with them. 
 
 Ilan removed his jacket and wrapped his son in it to protect the toddler from the cold. 
 
 The group remained there for almost five hours. 
 
 Ilan's mother quickly realised her son and grandson were hidden and decided not to try and contact them. 
 
 Play video "Paris Supermarket Siege Over" Video: Paris Supermarket Siege Over 
 
 She instead gave her son's number to the police, who were able to use it to track the location of Ilan and other hostages inside the supermarket. 
 
 According to Mr Molins, this knowledge may have played a part in their survival when police finally stormed the store. 
 
 :: Watch Sky News Special Report: Paris Attack at 8.30pm. See it on skynews.com, our mobile apps and on Sky News - channels Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 132. ||||| PARIS (AP) — With explosions and gunfire, security forces Friday ended three days of terror around Paris, killing the two al-Qaida-linked brothers who staged a murderous rampage at a satirical newspaper and an accomplice who seized hostages at a kosher supermarket to try to help the brothers escape. 
 
 A security officer directs released hostages after they stormed a kosher market to end a hostage situation, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Explosions and gunshots were heard as police forces stormed a kosher... (Associated Press) 
 
 Security officers escort released hostages after they stormed a kosher market to end a hostage situation, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Explosions and gunshots were heard as police forces stormed a kosher... (Associated Press) 
 
 Local residents watch as police officers escort hostages after they stormed a kosher grocery in Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Two sets of attackers seized hostages and locked down hundreds of French security... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this image taken from a video provided by PFMTV, police officers storm a kosher grocery to end a hostage situation in Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Two sets of attackers seized hostages and locked down... (Associated Press) 
 
 Armed security forces fly overhead in a military helicopter in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces swarmed this small industrial town northeast of Paris... (Associated Press) 
 
 An elite police officer followed by a man takes up position atop a building in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where the two brothers suspected in a deadly terror attack were cornered, Friday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Smoke emanates from the entrance to a kosher market as security forces prepare to end a hostage situation, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Explosions and gunshots were heard as police forces stormed a kosher... (Associated Press) 
 
 Security officers escort released hostages after they stormed a kosher market to end a hostage situation, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Explosions and gunshots were heard as police forces stormed a kosher... (Associated Press) 
 
 A hooded police officer stands on a roof in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where the two brothers suspected in a deadly terror attack were cornered, Friday, Jan.9, 2015. Two sets of attackers... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers detain youth who riding a scooter outside a hostage-taking situation at a kosher market in Paris, Friday Jan.9, 2015. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor says a shooting and hostage-taking... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this combination photo provided by the Paris Police Prefecture, Amedy Coulibaly, left, and Hayet Boumddiene, two suspects named by police as accomplices in a kosher market attack on the eastern edges... (Associated Press) 
 
 French gendarmes escort children from the Henri Dunand school to a safe location to be picked up by their parents in Dammartin-en-Goele, 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast of Paris, France, Friday Jan.... (Associated Press) 
 
 A French police officer stands guard outside the Grand Mosque as people arrive for Friday prayers, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces struggled with two rapidly developing hostage-taking... (Associated Press) 
 
 Grand Mosque rector Dalil Boubakeur, center, delivers a statement to members of the media following Friday prayers, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Two brothers suspected in a terror attack took a hostage... (Associated Press) 
 
 Armed securtiy forces fly overhead in a military helicopter in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces swarmed this small industrial town northeast of Paris... (Associated Press) 
 
 A police helicopter circles over Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast Paris, as part of an operation to seize two heavily armed suspects, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces swarmed a small industrial... (Associated Press) 
 
 A hooded police officer stands on a roof in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where the two brothers suspected in a deadly terror attack were cornered, Friday, Jan.9, 2015. Two sets of attackers... (Associated Press) 
 
 Armed security forces fly overhead in a military helicopter in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces swarmed this small industrial town northeast of Paris... (Associated Press) 
 
 Armed police officers in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. Brothers suspected in a newspaper terror attack were cornered with a hostage inside a printing house on Friday, after... (Associated Press) 
 
 French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve addresses reporters at the end of a crisis meeting with French President Francois Hollande, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. Investigators... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers arrive at a hostage-taking situation at a kosher market in Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor says a shooting and hostage-taking attack is underway at a kosher... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers control the access to Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, Friday Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces swarmed this small industrial town northeast of Paris Friday in an operation... (Associated Press) 
 
 This photo provided by The Paris Police Prefecture Thursday, Jan.8, 2015 shows the suspects Cherif, left, and Said Kouachi in the newspaper attack along with a plea for witnesses. Police hunted Thursday... (Associated Press) 
 
 Ambulances arrive in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast Paris, as part of an operation to seize two heavily armed suspects, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. French security forces swarmed a small industrial town northeast... (Associated Press) 
 
 The worst terrorist violence France has seen in decades killed at least 20 people, including the three gunmen. A fourth suspect — the common law wife of the market attacker — was still at large and believed to be armed. 
 
 Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen said it directed the attack against the publication Charlie Hebdo to avenge the honor of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly's satire. 
 
 The brothers were not unknown to authorities: One had a terrorism-related conviction for ties to a network sending fighters to battle American forces in Iraq, and both were on the U.S. no-fly list, according to a U.S. official. 
 
 President Francois Hollande urged his nation to remain united and vigilant, and the city shut down a famed Jewish neighborhood amid fears of more violence. 
 
 "The threats facing France are not finished," Hollande said. "We are a free people who cave to no pressure." 
 
 The drama, which played out on live TV and social media, began with the brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi methodically massacring 12 people Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo offices, stopping to shoot a wounded police officer in the head before escaping by car. 
 
 On Thursday, a gunman police identified as Amedy Coulibaly shot a policewoman to death south of Paris, although authorities were not sure at first if it was related to the Charlie Hebdo shootings. 
 
 It all ended at dusk Friday with near-simultaneous raids in two locations: a printing plant in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where the Kouachis were holed up, and the Paris supermarket where Coulibaly killed four hostages and threatened more violence unless the police let the Kouachis go. 
 
 As scores of black-clad security forces surrounded both sites, booming explosions, heavy gunfire and dense smoke heralded the news that the twin sieges finally had ended. 
 
 The three gunmen were dead — but the authorities also discovered four dead hostages at the market. Sixteen hostages were freed, one from the printing plant and 15 others from the store. 
 
 The attackers had ties both to each other and to terrorist activities that reached back years and extended from Paris to al-Qaida in Yemen. They epitomized Western authorities' greatest fear: Islamic radicals who trained abroad and came home to stage attacks. 
 
 After the killings at the Charlie Hebdo offices, Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his 34-year-old brother Said led police on a chase around northeastern France, robbing a gas station and stealing a car before ending up at the printing plant in Dammartin-en-Goele, near Charles de Gaulle airport. One of the brothers was wounded in the neck at one point during a shootout with police after he commandeered a car, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said. 
 
 Authorities said the brothers temporarily took a man hostage at the plant but let him go, and a second man was later discovered to have been hiding inside the building. 
 
 A member of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula gave a statement in English to The Associated Press saying the group's leadership "directed the operations and they have chosen their target carefully." 
 
 The attack was in line with warnings from the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to the West about "the consequences of the persistence in the blasphemy against Muslim sanctities," the member said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the group's regulations do not permit him to give his name. 
 
 The brothers were cornered there for much of the day before the explosions and gunfire rang out in the twilight and a police SWAT team clambered onto the roof. 
 
 "They said they want to die as martyrs," Yves Albarello, a local lawmaker inside the command post, told French television station i-Tele. 
 
 At the kosher grocery near the Porte de Vincennes neighborhood of the capital, the gunman burst in shooting just a few hours before the Jewish Sabbath began, declaring "You know who I am," the official recounted. 
 
 The attack came before sundown when the store would have been crowded with shoppers, and Hollande called it "a terrifying anti-Semitic act." 
 
 Coulibaly killed the four people in the market shortly after entering, Molins said. 
 
 Several people wounded in the grocery store were able to flee and get medical care, the official said. 
 
 About 100 students were locked down in nearby schools and the highway ringing Paris was closed. 
 
 The mayor's office also shut down all shops along Rosiers Street in the city's famed Marais neighborhood in the heart of the tourist district. Hours before the Jewish Sabbath, the street is usually crowded with shoppers. The street is also only a kilometer (half-mile) from Charlie Hebdo's offices. 
 
 Charles de Gaulle airport, not far from the standoff in Dammartin-en-Goele, briefly closed two runways to arrivals, and Hollande held a series of crisis meetings with his security team throughout the day. 
 
 Police released a photo of Coulibaly and his wife, Hayat Boumeddiene, described as an accomplice. 
 
 Authorities increasingly grew to see links between the attackers after they discovered that Boumeddiene and the companion of one of the Kouachi brothers had exchanged about 500 phone calls, Molins said. 
 
 He added that several people have been given preliminary charges in the investigation. They include relatives of the three gunmen. 
 
 Minutes before police stormed both sites, Coulibaly had threatened more violence if authorities launched an assault on the two brothers, a police official said. A group of people holed up in the supermarket's freezer — apparently unbeknownst to the gunman. 
 
 BFM also said it spoke with Coulibaly, who said he and the Kouachis were coordinating their actions, and that he was with the militant Islamic State group. The organizations are normally rivals. 
 
 The TV station said Coulibaly didn't hang up properly after the phone call and that this allowed police to hear him saying a final prayer before his death, perhaps suggesting that this prompted the police raid. 
 
 In the final assault, phalanxes of security forces converged on the store entrance behind a flash from a stun grenade — and fired inside. Frenzied civilians — one of them carrying a toddler — scurried out under escort by helmeted police in body armor. 
 
 Police said Coulibaly had been a co-suspect with Cherif Kouachi in a court case involving terrorism that never made it to trial. 
 
 Cherif Kouachi was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 for ties to a network sending jihadis to fight U.S. forces in Iraq. 
 
 According to a Yemeni security official, Said Kouachi is suspected of having fought for al-Qaida in Yemen. Another senior security official added that Said was in Yemen until 2012. 
 
 Both officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into Kouachi's stay in Yemen. 
 
 Both brothers were also on the U.S. no-fly list, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss foreign intelligence publicly. 
 
 The attacks in France as well as a hostage siege last month in Sydney and the October killing of a solder near Canada's parliament prompted the U.S. State Department to issue a global travel warning for Americans. It also cites an increased risk of reprisals against U.S. and Western targets for the U.S.-led intervention against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. 
 
 Authorities around Europe have warned of the threat posed by the return of Western jihadis trained in warfare. France counts at least 1,200 citizens in the war zone in Syria — headed there, returned or dead. Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have threatened France, home to Western Europe's largest Muslim population. 
 
 The publication Charlie Hebdo had long drawn threats for its depictions of Islam, although it also lampooned other religions and political figures. It had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, and a sketch of Islamic State's leader was the last tweet sent by the irreverent newspaper minutes before the attack. 
 
 Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed in the newspaper attack, including the paper's editor. Charlie Hebdo plans a special edition next week, produced in the offices of another paper. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Samuel Petrequin, Sylvie Corbet, Jamey Keaten, John Leicester and Angela Charlton in Paris; Raphael Satter and Trung Latieule in Dammartin-en-Goele, Jill Lawless in London; Eric Tucker in Washington; Ahmed al-Hag in Sanaa, Yemen; Sarah el-Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.
– Some intriguing details about the role of cell phones in yesterday's dual raids in France that killed three suspected terrorists: Hidden helper: When Cherif and Said Kouachi holed up in a building outside Paris, they were unaware that a man identified as Lilian Lepere, 26, was hiding inside. He was reportedly under a sink but close enough to hear the brothers talk, and he began texting police information about their whereabouts, his whereabouts, and the building itself, reports Sky News. The dialogue lasted three hours, and a police official says it gave authorities crucial help ahead of the raid, reports the Wall Street Journal. Didn't hang up: The hostage-taker at the kosher market in Paris, Amedy Coulibaly, called a TV station at one point but failed to properly hang up the phone after talking. "This allowed police to hear him saying a final prayer before his death, perhaps suggesting that this prompted the police raid," reports AP. Hostage location: Several people at the market hid in a refrigeration unit, including a father and his toddler-age son. When the man's mother realized they were trapped inside the market, she opted not to call in case they were hidden. Instead, she gave the phone number to police, who were able to track the location of the hostages inside the store, reports AFP. The information may have helped them survive when the raid took place.