At one point a captive bravely challenged Amedy Coulibaly after he mocked those trapped inside the store for paying taxes, according to reports.

Excerpts of the attacker launching a diatribe while holding those trapped inside the store were released by French media this morning.

His remarks were apparently recorded after a telephone was left off the hook.

According to RTL, Coulibaly railed against the French state and attacked interventions in Iraq and Syria.

He said: "They must stop attacking the Islamic State, stop unveiling our women, stop putting our brothers in prison for nothing at all."

The attacker went on: "It is you who is financing (the government). You pay taxes."

At that point, according to the report, a hostage said: "We are obliged to (pay taxes)."

Coulibaly responded: "You do not have to. I do not pay taxes."

The hostage said: "When I pay taxes, it is for roads, for schools."

Coulibaly replied: "If people manage to unite as they did for Charlie Hebdo ... do the same by uniting and saying: 'Leave the Muslims in peace'. Why do you not do that?"

Broadcaster BFMTV also received a phone call from the 32-year-old as he was holding hostages at the Paris grocery store.

He told them he and the Kouachi brothers had "synchronised to do the operations", adding: "We just decided at the start, so they did Charlie Hebdo and I took care of police officers."

His co-conspirators also spoke to a journalist from the station from the printworks where they were holed up yesterday.

He was surprised when the phone was answered by Cherif Kouachi, who told him: "We are just telling you we are the defenders of the prophet and that I, Cherif Kouachi, have been sent by al-Qaeda of Yemen and that I went over there and that Anwar Al Awlaki financed me."

Asked if he intended to kill more civilians, Kouachi replied: "Did we kill any civilians in the past two days when you were looking for us? Come on.

"We are not killers, we are the defenders of the Prophet, and we kill those who insult him."