PARIS MASSACRE MANHUNT: Charlie Hebdo Killers Are Cornered

Scores of armed police were surrounding the Charlie Hebdo massacre gunmen after they seized a hostage and holed up in town north east of Paris. Dammartin-en-Goele, 25 miles from the capital, was locked down as a siege situation developed with brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.

Officials denied reports of fatalities after shots were fired during the operation but police confirmed that a hostage had been taken.

The brothers were cornered in the premises of a printing firm after stealing a car earlier.

Officers from the GIGN Special Forces unit were said to have begun negotiations with the Islamic fanatics, who murdered 12 people at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

The Kouachis took the Peugeot earlier today in the town of Montagny Sainte Felicite, about 30 miles north-east of Paris.

Police officers block the access to Dammartin-en-Goele, north east of Paris where the gunmen behind the Charlie Hebdo were traced

There was heavy gunfire reported on the major road linking the two towns followed by a car chase.

A large police convoy, including helicopters, rushed to scene as the French interior ministry confirmed that an operation to detain the suspects was under way.

Residents of Dammartin-en-Goele were warned on the town's official website to stay indoors and pupils were being kept inside school.

The hunt affected flights at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Two Air France planes had to conduct "go arounds" in which the aircraft crew come in close but then decide not to land but gain altitude before attempting another landing.

An Air France spokeswoman said the airport remained open but that aircraft had been warned by air traffic controllers that helicopters involved in the search were flying at low altitudes in the area.

Thousands of police and security officers have been deployed in the hunt for the brothers.

Teams of heavily-armed officers had been scouring the dense woodland in the 32,000-acre Foret de Retz around 50 miles outside Paris.

The brothers were already known to US authorities and had been put on the American no-fly list, a senior US counter-terrorism official said.

Another US official said the older brother, Said, had travelled to Yemen. It was unclear whether he was there to join up with extremist groups such as al Qaida.

A third man, Hamyd Mourad, 18, surrendered to police, after hearing his name on the news in connection with the Charlie Hebdo attack.

The tension gripping France deepened further yesterday after a policewoman was shot dead in a southern Parisian suburb in an attack which officials are believed to be treating as a terrorist act.

The fugitives are holed up in a printing firm called Creation Tendance Decouverte on an industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele.

A message on the town's website said: "A police operation is under way. All residents are called on to stay at home. Children are confined and secure in schools."

Speaking from a local high school Marion Genay said she was one of 900 people being kept inside.

She told the BBC: "We are really scared. We all called our parents to know if they are ok or not. We have to wait in the high school.

"They say to us 'stay in the high school and stay calm' but we are really scared."

Asked when she was first aware of the situation, she said: "Someone told me there are terrorists near my school."

There have been reports of two deaths and up to 20 casualties.

However Pierre-Henry Brandet, of the Interior Ministry, said: "There have so far been no deaths or injuries."

There were no landings being allowed at Charles de Gaulle airport's two northern runways, with arriving planes using the two southern runways.

A spokesman said the airport remained open.

Carole Morais, another local resident, told Le Monde: "We are stuck, everyone is confined."

A woman named only as Anne was quoted by RTL as saying she feared for her daughter, who works in the industrial zone.

She said: "My daughter is still there and I want to stay here because I am scared for her.

"She called me this morning to tell me there had been shots."

French president Francois Hollande has revealed that authorities had "foiled" recent attempts at terrorist attacks on the country.

Speaking at a press conference at the Interior Ministry he said: "There are threats, international threats and domestic threats - they are not new. Our country has been a victim in the past."

He added: "We knew for a few months that there were attempts, and we have foiled them."

"There were attempts to carry out operations. And we know that anything can happen at any time."

Although Mr Hollande did not make any direct reference to the current hostage situation in Dammartin-en-Goele, he announced that he had complete confidence in the country's authorities.

A salesman named as Didier told the radio station France Info that he believed he had encountered and shaken the hand of one of the terrorists today in Dammartin-en-Goele.

He said when he arrived to meet a customer called Michel this morning he met a heavily armed man dressed in black and wearing a bullet proof vest. He took the man to be a police officer but became suspicious because of what he said to him.

Didier said: "I was in front of the business, I shook Michel's hand and then (the armed man).

"He said to me 'I am the police. Go, we do not kill civilians'. I guess that it was one of the terrorists. After I left, Michel shut the gate behind me.

"I knew there was something wrong. I decided to call the police.

"It could have been a police officer if he had not said to me 'we do not kill civilians'.

"I have been very lucky this morning."