The raids to free a hostage being held in a printing house northeast of Paris by two brothers and 19 other hostages at a kosher market were led by France's elite force Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale . When three militants took hostages at two locations in and around Paris last week, the French government deployed its special counterterrorism units, elite forces that have had much experience in a country with a history of militant attacks.