Screenshot from Sky News

Police have surrounded the print works in  Dammartin-en-Goele, 35km (22 miles) north-east of Paris, in which the two gunmen were cornered, and negotiations with them have started, the BBC reported. The hostage is reported to be a 26-year-old man.

Meanwhile, another hostage-taking incident broke out in a Kosher supermarket in Paris, with a gunman and a woman accomplice taking at least five hostages. The BBC reported two other hostages have been killed, and according to Sky News the gunman was involved the killing of a French policewoman on Thursday. The French Interior Ministry has since said that nobody has died in the incident in Paris, but one person has been seriously wounded.

The French capital echoed with the blaring of emergency-service sirens, and at least one station of the Paris Metro was closed as there were reports of another incident, which turned out to be a false alarm.

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The suspects in the Charlie Hebdo killings have been named by police as brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi.

The hostage takers in the supermarket are reported to have demanded that the Kouachi brothers be released from police siege, and there is speculation in the media that the two incidents are coordinated and may have been planned together. The supermarket hotage-taker is thought to be a man called Amedy Coulibaly, who police say was involved in the killing of a policewoman on Thursday during a traffic incident in the town of Montrouge.

The Islamist hostage-takers in the printing business in Dammartin-en-Goele have reportedly said they are prepared to die.