French firemen prepare to intervene (Picture: Getty)

A gunman took seven people hostage at a travel agent in Paris tonight.

Police say that a robber armed with a handgun trapped people in the shop in the south of the French capital.

Anti-terror police responded as well as negotiators ready for a protracted siege, however authorities said just after 9pm local time that those taken captive had now been freed.

The gunman is still on the run, however, sparking a major operation to find him.


‘Intervention under way in an armed robbery. Drivers should avoid the area’, officers tweeted, cordoning off a large area of central Paris around the Massena boulevard in the Porte d’Italie area.

Vol à main armée avec prise d'otages à Paris : Un périmètre de sécurité a été installé Boulevard Masséna. pic.twitter.com/L8ZqsBotEE — Infos Françaises (@InfosFrancaises) December 2, 2016

The gunman is said to have stormed the Asieland travel agency around 6.30pm.

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Around two hours later the hostages escaped safely.



‘We saw four or five people coming out with their hands on their heads, followed by around 15 officers,’ local resident Zinedine said.

‘There was no shooting, we heard no explosion. It’s over,’ said the 55-year-old, who had left home to buy cigarettes.

According to reports, the shop has been targeted in the past as wealthy clientele prefer to pay using cash instead of credit card, so there is money on the premises.

Police at the scene (Picture: Reuters)

The hostages were freed around 9pm local time (Picture: Reuters)

Jerome Coumet, the mayor of the 13th arrondissement said: ‘It was an attempt at an armed robbery that went wrong.

‘The police intervened immediately. There are no reports of victims or any damage so far. The police are doing everything to bring the situation under control.’

France is still under a state of emergency after a series of devastating terror attacks, including a coordinated gun attack by Isis which killed 130 people last November.

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Increased security in the capital includes bag checks at shops in the city centre.

There have also been high profile violent robberies in the city recently.

In October, Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint by men pretending to be police officers in her apartment, losing jewellery, believed to be worth up to £12 million dollars.