France crisis: 18 persons taken hostage in a Paris store

Paris, July 13: At least 18 persons have been taken hostage by gunmen at a store near Paris on Monday media reported.

Gunmen raided at a Primark store at Villeneuve-la-Garenne near Paris and took hostage ten people, Local France reported.

Most of the hostages are believed to be staff of the store, located in the Quartz shopping centre.

At around 6.30 am two or three armed men broke in to the Primark store to carry out what we believe was an attempted armed robbery," a police source was quoted as saying.

A specialist armed police unit had been sent to the scene. Report also suggests that one gunman believed to be member of staff.

According to report, one of the hostages managed to raise the alarm by sending an sms to her friend about the hostage situation.

All the shops in the vicinity has been asked to down shutter and traffic has also been stopped in the area.

OneIndia News