PARIS, Jan 8 : A huge manhunt for two brothers suspected of massacring 12 people in an Islamist attack at a satirical French weekly zeroed in on a northern town on Thursday after the discovery of one of the getaway cars.
As thousands of police tightened their net, the country marked a rare national day of mourning for Wednesday's bloodbath at Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, the worst terrorist attack in France.
The discovery of the car, abandoned in the northern town of Villers-Cotterets, was a breakthrough in the frantic police hunt.
Earlier reports said that the two fugitives, still armed, had been spotted at a petrol station in the same area.
A source close to the case also said that Molotov cocktails and jihadist-style flags had been discovered in another vehicle used by the attackers that was abandoned in Paris soon after Wednesday's assault.
With emotions running high, bells tolled across France at midday, public transport stopped and people gathered outside the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in the pouring rain, holding aloft banners reading "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie).
As police chased the gunmen, several incidents rocked the jittery nation, although it was not clear whether they were linked to Wednesday's attack.
POLICEWOMAN SHOT DEAD
Just south of Paris, a man shot dead a policewoman and wounded a city employee with an automatic rifle -- an act that prosecutors said they were treating as terrorism.
There was an explosion at a kebab shop in eastern France, with no casualties immediately reported. And two Muslim places of worship were also fired at in the wake of Wednesday's attacks, prosecutors said.    ?AFP