France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor says a shooting and hostage-taking attack is underway at a kosher market on the eastern edge of Paris. A police official said there are multiple hostages and wounded at the scene.
The French president ordered the country’s top security official to the scene, an official in the presidency told The Associated Press. The police official declined to be named when discussing the unfolding situation.
The events near Paris’ Porte de Vincennes took place as two suspects in France’s deadliest terror attack in decades were cornered near Charles de Gaulle airport.
Several people were taken hostage at the kosher supermarket after a shootout involving a man armed with two guns, a police source said.
There were unconfirmed local media reports that the man was the same as the one suspected of killing a policewoman in a southern suburb of Paris on Thursday.
A police source had told Reuters earlier he was a member of the same jihadist group as the two suspects in Wednesday’s attack at weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The exact number of hostages was unclear. Local media spoke of at least five. The police source said the man was equipped with automatic weapons.
Police immediately cordoned off the area and a helicopter was flying overhead. Local media said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was rushing to the scene.
