The scene of the hostage situation in Roubaix

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Several people have reportedly been wounded in a stand-off between armed officers and hostage takers in the French town of Roubaix, the hometown of suspected ISIS bomb maker Mohamed Khoualed.

Khoualed is believed to have made the suicide vests which ISIS jihadis used when they attacked bars and a theatre in Paris, killing 130 people.

Local news outlets reported that children were amongst those held hostage at a petrol station and that the hostage takers are armed with Kalashnikov machine guns.

A police source said that a bank manager and his family are believed to be the hostages. It is not thought that the attack is terror related.