Breaking: Gunman takes 2 people hostage at a post office in Paris Suburb.

 Gunman claiming to be armed with a Kalashnikov and grenades has taken two people hostage at post office in a Paris suburb.

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

The gunman reportedly phoned police to confirm that he had taken hostages in the post office on 158 boulevard du general de Gaulle.

Two captives are understood to have already been released, according to French media.It is not known if the siege is linked to last week's terror attacks.
The suspect, who identified himself to police, is known to the authorities for minor crimes, it was reported by RTL.

Negotiations between the man and special police units are underway.
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The district of Colombes is close to where one of the brothers behind the Charlie Hebdo massacre lived.

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.