Woman Is Taken Hostage By The Paris Terror Attack Suspects, Now Cornered

According to Skynews, the Paris terror suspects are holed up at an industrial building near Charles de Gaulle airport with a hostage, and have told police they are ready to "die as martyrs".

One of the "heavily armed" Kouachi brothers turned up at the printing factory wearing black combat gear and a bulletproof vest and claimed to be a police officer. He then told a worker: "Get out of here, we don't kill civilians."

Helicopters are hovering overhead and armed police officers have flooded the area, surrounding Said and Cherif Kouachi.

Local residents are being told to stay at home, switch off the lights, and stay away from their windows. Hundreds of people are sealed inside some local office buildings.

There have been reports that two people have been killed, but Paris prosecutors insist there have been no deaths.

Police are now negotiating with the two suspects, whose hostage is understood to be a woman.

At least two planes have aborted landing attempts at the airport as the situation unfolds.  "What we are sensing here is no panic, they are taking this very slowly indeed. This operation is complex, this is not something they want to rush."

The stand-off follows a car chase on the N2 motorway earlier in which gunshots were fired between the men and police as their stolen car headed towards Paris.

Three helicopters have been hovering near the building in Dammartin-en-Goele, close to the country's busiest airport.

A close-up image of one of the helicopters shows armed police sitting at the vehicle's open door with heavy weaponry ready.

France's interior minister has confirmed that an operation to detain the suspects is under way.

In a televised statement Bernard Cazeneuve said: "An operation is under way which is set to neutralise the perpetrators of the cowardly attack carried out two days ago."

Armed police are ordering members of the media to leave the area, saying the situation is too dangerous.

The brothers' grey Peugot 206 was hijacked from a woman in the town of Montagny Sainte Felicite this morning between Crepy-en-Valois and Nanteuil-le-Haudoin.

Almost 90,000 terror police across France are involved in the hunt for the men, believed to be behind Wednesday's terror attack on the headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people died.

They then fled the city and are believed to have hid overnight in an area to the northeast of the capital.

Police say the attack is now being linked to a second incident on Thursday in which a policewoman was shot dead and a council worker seriously injured.

Skynews