Are fugitive Charlie Hebdo killers holed up in giant cave? Darkness falls on hunt as locals warn gunmen could hide out in forest for WEEKS

• Dragnet closing on brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi as manhunt by terror police zeroes in on area of north France
• They are believed to have fled on foot, still armed, into 32,000-acre forest, same size as Paris, 50 miles from capital
• Officers are said to have found a Molotov cocktail bomb and jihadist flag in their car which they abandoned nearby
• Dozens of armed police swarm into nearby villages to conduct house-to-house searches and set up road blocks
• Properties in village of Longpont surrounded by special forces as one officer warns MailOnline: 'This is not a game'
• Shocked diners evacuated from restaurant while they were eating lunch over immediate fears for their safety
• Men fitting suspects' description robbed garage while driving 'Renault Clio with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers'
• Questions will be asked why Frenchmen with links to terror were apparently given free reign to carry out atrocity
• Seven connected to two main suspects arrested in towns of Reims, Charleville-Mezieres and the Paris area
• Third terror alert in Paris as another gunman is on loose - hours after PC shot dead by 'North African wielding rifle'
• Journalist Sigolène Vinson reveals she was spared death by the attackers in massacre because she is a woman

By Mark Duell and Simon Tomlinson and Peter Allen and Hannah Roberts and Emine Sinmaz In Longpont For Mailonline

Two armed suspects wanted over the Charlie Hebdo massacre were tonight being pursued through woodland as a huge manhunt closed in on a forest.

Police believe they have tracked down the brothers to a remote area about 50 miles north-east of Paris after reportedly robbing a nearby petrol station.

Officers are said to have found a Molotov cocktail bomb and jihadist flag in the car of Cherif and Said Kouachi, which they abandoned before fleeing.

The men, still armed, headed on foot into the vast Forêt de Retz (Retz Forest) that measures 32,000 acres, an area roughly the size of Paris.

Special police combing the French countryside were tonight searching a huge cave hundreds of feet deep for any sign of the alleged gunmen.

Veronique La Mer, whose house is within 50 yards of the cave, a former quarry, said as she watched anti terror police search: 'We are afraid.'

She added: 'I didn't sleep at all last night. I have two children in the house. The police told us to stay inside in our houses.

'We have seen police swarming the villages all.day and helicopters over our heads. These woods are huge. You could easily hide out here for weeks.

'There are lots of caves. The atmosphere in town is very strange. At 6pm the streets were deserted. Every one was afraid to be outside. '

Beatrice Le Frans, who also lives in Fleury village, told of balaclava-clad men carrying machine guns thumping on her door demanding to be let in.

She said: 'I thought they were the terrorists. I was terrified. They were trying to break down my door. But then they said they were the police.

'They said to be careful and stay inside. Luckily I have three grown up sons here otherwise I would be very scared. '

Swarms of police in armoured personnel carriers have sealed off the nearby village of Abbaye de Longpont, which has just 300 residents.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2901570/Hunt-Charlie-Hebdo-gunmen-killers-revealed-brothers-trained-Yemen-assassins-links-terror-groups-going-TEN-YEARS-free-roam-Paris.html