Suspect's possible Yemen travel draws scrutiny; manhunt for brothers enters 3rd day in France

Armed police officers patrol in the village of Fleury, north east of Paris, hunting down the two heavily armed brothers suspected in Wednesday's massacre at Charlie Hebdo newspaper, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. Scattered gunfire and explosions shook France on Thursday as its frightened yet defiant citizens held a day of mourning for 12 people slain at a Paris newspaper. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) (The Associated Press)

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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 town northeast of Paris Friday in an operation to capture a pair of heavily armed suspects in the deadly storming of a satirical newspaper. Shots were fired as the brothers stole a car in the early morning hours, said a French security official, who could not immediately confirm reports of hostages taken or deaths later in the day in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) (The 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 to capture a pair of heavily armed suspects in the deadly storming of a satirical newspaper. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) (The Associated Press)

PARIS – Investigators are scrutinizing the recent past of two brothers with al-Qaida sympathies, as a manhunt for the suspects in the newsroom massacre at a satirical French weekly enters its third day.

One of the brothers was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 and a U.S. official said the other had traveled to Yemen. Investigators are trying to determine whether he was looking to join extremist fighters there.

Twelve people died in Wednesday's attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. It was France's deadliest terror attack in decades. French officials are holding a crisis meeting Friday morning.

Police SWAT teams late Thursday swarmed a region north of Paris, fearing a second strike by the suspects, who are described in a nationwide notice as "armed and dangerous."