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One hostage taker has been killed and others are on the run after a hostage situation in the northern French town of Roubaix this evening.

A huge police operation took place at a house in the town, which is less than a mile from the Belgian border, after armed men reportedly took a family hostage in a failed burglary.

Witnesses heard gunfire at around 6pm GMT and armed police arrived at the scene and people were told to stay indoors.

By 9.30pm GMT local authorities said the hostages were now in a "secure place".

Frederic Fevre, the prosecutor for the northern French city of Lille, told reporters that one hostage-taker had been killed, and that police were hunting for other suspects who were on the run.

Police sources said the Roubaix incident most likely concerned a planned armed robbery.

(Image: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images)

"This is apparently not a terrorist attack, it's apparently a robbery," one police source said.

It is not clear how many people were taken hostage or whether any were injured.

"We heard three gunshots. I closed the shutters and we prepared to spend the night hidden," said one resident to a local journalist.

France remains on high alert after the November 13 attacks in and around Paris in which 130 people were killed, and as a result, situations such as the one in Roubaix have taken on a greater significance than usual.