Police: Paris hostage-taker surrenders

An armed man who held two hostages in a post office outside Paris on Friday has surrendered and has been arrested, police said.

“There was no assault, the man gave himself up,” a police source said, adding that the hostages were “shocked but not injured,” Agence France-Presse reported.

Police had cordoned off the area in Colombes, a city northwest of Paris, and a helicopter was seen flying overhead, French media reported.

 

Police sources said several post office clients had managed to escape and that the gunman himself had called them. The sources said he was “speaking incoherently” and was heavily armed with grenades and Kalashnikovs.

“I cannot confirm or deny whether it is linked to terrorism,” an official was quoted by Reuters, declining to give further details.

BFM TV, citing an unidentified source, said the hostage taking was not related to last week's attacks in Paris.

The French capital is still jittery after a series of attacks last week by Islamist gunmen left 17 people dead.

French police arrested 12 people earlier on Friday suspected of helping militant Islamist gunmen in last week's killings in Paris. There have been numerous false alerts across the city since the attacks.

 

[With Agencies]
 

 

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