PARIS
Eighteen people were freed by police after they were held hostage by gunmen in a store at Villeneuve-la-Garenne, a suburb north of Paris, French media have reported.
"At around 6.30 a.m. [0430GMT] armed men broke into the [discount fashion] Primark store to carry out what we believe was an attempted armed robbery," police told French daily Le Parisien.
The hostages were reported to be staff members of the store, which is located in a shopping mall called Qwartz.
Special armed police forces are reportedly looking for the two or three armed men in the shopping mall.
