Incident Summary:
01/09/2015: Two assailants stormed the offices of Creation Tendance Decouverte, a printing firm, in Dammartin-en-Goele town, Ile-de-France region, France. The attackers took one employee hostage during an eight-hour standoff with elite forces. The siege ended when the gunmen were shot and killed, while the hostages were released unharmed. This was one of two coordinated attacks. The gunmen coordinated their attack with Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who attacked a Kosher grocery store in Paris. The two assailants were identified as brothers Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi; they had carried out an attack two days earlier at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine in Paris and security forces had been searching for them since.
Overview
GTD ID:
201501090001
When:
2015-01-09
Country:
France
Region:
Western Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Ile-de-France
City:
Dammartin en Goele
Location Details:
The incident occurred at Creation Tendance Decouverte office.
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
| Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Barricade Incident) |
| Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Business |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
Creation Tendance Decouverte |
| Specific Description |
Printing Firm |
| Nationality of Target |
France |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
Yes |
| Number of Hostages |
1 |
| US Hostages |
0 |
| Hours of Kidnapping |
8 |
| Outcome |
Successful Rescue |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
Yes |
| Extent of Property Damage |
Minor (likely < $1 million) |
| Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Explosives |
Projectile (rockets, mortars, RPGs, etc.) |
| Firearms |
Automatic Weapon |
| Firearms |
Handgun |
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), two Zastava M70 AB2 assault rifles, and two Zastava M57 pistols were used in the attack. |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
| Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
| Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
| Muslim extremists |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
2 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
2 Fatalities / 2 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
2 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
2 |
| Total Number of Injured |
2 |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
| "Charlie Hebdo attack: Three days of terror," BBC, January 14, 2015. |
| "Paris Gunmen Killed: Brothers Cherif And Said Kouachi Killed In Dammartin-En-Goele, Hostage Freed," Huffington Post Canada, January 9, 2015. |
| "I'm not a hero, says the graphic designer who hid in a box and texted police as Charlie Hebdo killers were holed up in his office," Mail Online, January 11, 2015. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
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