Gunmen holed up with hostages in northern France near Belgium border

According to a local newspaper, La Voix Du Nord, the gunmen took shelter in a petrol station after they were intercepted at a security checkpoint and exchanged heavy gunfire with the police. Fevre did not specify what number of have been on the run or what had motivated the hostage-taking.

Several armed men holed themselves inside a house after being stopped at a police road block, it was reported.

Mr Vasseur confirmed to AFP that the suspects had attempted to rob a building before taking hostages. “I closed the shutters and we prepared to spend the night hidden”, said one resident to a local journalist.

Medical and fire services confirmed that an operation was under way in Roubaix, which is near the border with Belgium, without giving further details.

It’s unclear whether the possible hostage situation is connected to the November 13 attacks in Paris. The daily identified the suspect as Mohamed K. – a man who had originally come to France from the Antilles.

After two hours, a specialist police unit launched an assault on the house, freeing the captives, killing one of the suspects and arresting a second in the back garden, Fevre said.

“This is apparently not a terrorist attack, it’s apparently a robbery”, one police source said.