A MAN who was holed up in a post office in a suburb northwest of Paris with two hostages has surrendered and has been arrested, a police source said.

“There was no assault, the man gave himself up”, the source said, adding that the hostages were “shocked but not injured”.

The incident came after the Gare de l’Est train station was closed and evacuated after a bomb threat, as authorities try to prevent new violence after the worst terrorist attacks in decades.

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Police said the post office incident did not appear to be linked to extremist attacks.

Meanwhile, French and Belgian police arrested more than a dozen people after a raid on an Islamist cell said to be planning attacks against police.

media_camera Dramatic scene ... police sources said several post office clients had managed to escape and that the gunman himself had called them. Picture: AFP

Police sources said several post office clients had managed to escape before the man was arrested, and that he called authorities himself.

The sources said he was “speaking incoherently” and was heavily armed with grenades and Kalashnikovs.

media_camera Hostage drama ... French Research and Intervention Brigades (BRI) policemen officers prepare near the post office where an armed man is holed up with two hostages in Colombes. Picture: AFP

Paris hostages taken

media_camera Prepared ... French Research and Intervention Brigades (BRI) policemen officers near the post office. Picture: AFP

media_camera Geared up ... French Research and Intervention Brigades (BRI) policemen officers. Picture: AFP

The hostage-taker was “disappointed in love”, local prefecture told Liberation newspaper, in French remarks translated by RT.

The hostage taker was reported to be a customer “who lost his head” and speaks of “heartbreak.”

The gunman was known to police as a petty crime suspect, RT said.

media_camera At the scene ... French Research and Intervention Brigades (BRI) near the post office. Picture: AFP

The area around the post office in Colombes, a city northwest of Paris, had been cordoned off, with a helicopter flying overhead and elite security forces on the ground.

Pictures posted online showed police vehicles surrounding the building.

media_camera Holding fire ... French policemen stand near the post office where an armed man holed up with two hostages remains. Picture: AFP

The French capital is still jittery after a series of attacks last week by Islamist gunmen left 17 people dead.

Earlier on Friday, 19,000 French websites were hacked by some well-known Islamic hacker groups.

Originally published as Paris gunman arrested, hostages freed