SCORES of armed police are surrounding the Charlie Hebdo massacre gunmen after they seized a hostage and holed up in town north east of Paris.

The Northern Echo:
Police officers control the access to Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris

Dammartin-en-Goele, 25 miles from the capital, is locked down after a siege situation developed with brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi who reportedly told police negotiators they 'are ready to die as martyrs'.

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

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

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

It emerged this morning that authorities now believe that there is a link between the brothers and the suspected perpetrator of a shooting yesterday in the Parisian suburb of Montrouge in which a police officer was killed.

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

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 have been warned on the town's official website to stay indoors and pupils are being kept inside school.

The hunt has affected flights at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Two Air France planes have conducted "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.

The Northern Echo:
Police officer block the access to Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris

Thousands of police and security officers had 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.

The Northern Echo:
Armed securtiy forces fly overhead in a military helicopter in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris

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."

The Northern Echo:

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."

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."

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.