A four-hour stand-off between an armed man who took hostages at a building in a northern district of Paris and police has ended without bloodshed, reports The Guardian.
French special forces negotiated with the man, who claimed to have a handgun and a bomb and demanded to be put in contact with the Iranian embassy in Paris, throughout the siege.
The man, described by police as “determined and violent”, claimed to have an accomplice outside the building. First indications were that the incident was not terror-related.
The hostage-taker reportedly entered the building at 45, rue des Petites Écuries at around 4pm local time on Tuesday, pretending to be a food delivery courier.
He hit one man, who managed to flee. A pregnant woman also managed to escape and was being treated for shock by ambulance services on the scene.
The hostages were reportedly held in the internal courtyard of the building, which contains a mix of offices and residential apartments. Within minutes of being alerted, police, French special forces with anti-explosive robots, the fire brigade and ambulance services had surrounded the building.