Hostage-taking drama in Paris post office ends

PARIS: An armed man has taken several hostages at a post office northwest of Paris, French media reported on Friday, with one TV station saying the incident was not a suspected terrorist act.

Newspapers Le Figaro and Le Monde, both citing an AFP news agency dispatch based on police sources, reported that a man equipped with a military weapon had taken an unconfirmed number of hostages at the post office in the town of Colombes, not far outside the capital.

A police helicopter was seen above Colombes as authorities responded to the hostage situation. Two people were reportedly being held hostage and that the incident was not deemed terrorist-related.

Tweeps posted pictures of the Paris suburb where the alleged hostage-taking is in progress.

The reportedly claimed to be armed with a Kalashnikov and grenades.

Police have surrounded the building in Colombes, around seven miles from the centre of the French capital. A helicopter was flying overhead.

Media report also said the man had phoned police in Colombes on Friday, confirming that he had taken hostages in a post office on 158 boulevard du general de Gaulle.

A woman watches the siege unfold. It is not known if the hostage-taking is linked to last week's terror attacks

Two hostages are understood to have already been released. 

The suspect, who reportedly named himself to police, is known to the authorities for minor crimes, according to RTL.

A police official said meanwhile: "I cannot confirm or deny whether it is linked to terrorism."

It is not known if the siege is linked to last week's terror attacks.

It comes as Belgian authorities raided an Islamist cell planning attacks against police as dozens of people were arrested in sweeps across Europe, keeping the continent on alert one week after the Paris massacres.

Two suspected jihadists were shot dead in a police raid in the eastern Belgian town of Verviers last night night.

Prosecutors said 13 suspects had been detained across Belgium, with two more held in France.

French police separately detained 12 people in the suburbs of Paris in connection with last week's attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman, in which 17 people were killed.

Hundreds of German police meanwhile raided alleged Islamist sites in Berlin, arresting two men suspected of being part of a group planning to carry out an attack in Syria.

The raids highlighted fears about young Europeans travelling to fight with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda-linked groups in the Middle East before returning to carry out attacks on western target