Hostages Reportedly Taken At Post Office Outside Paris

[madamvlb]

Source: Huffington Post

PARIS, Jan 16 (Reuters) - An armed man has taken several hostages at a post office northwest of Paris, an official at the city prosecutor's office told Reuters.

The man equipped with a military weapon had taken an unconfirmed number of hostages at the post office in the town of Colombes, not far outside the capital, French media reported earlier.

"I cannot confirm or deny whether it is linked to terrorism," the official said declining to give further details.

BFM TV, citing an unidentified source, said the hostage taking was not related to last week's attacks in Paris.

French police arrested 12 people earlier on Friday suspected of helping militant Islamist gunmen in last week's killings in Paris. There have been numerous false alerts across the city since the attacks. (Reporting by Chine labbe; writing by John Irish and Brian Love; editing by Mark John and Andrew Callus)

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/16/post-office-hostages_n_6485680.html

[Bosonic]

1. Paris post office hostage-taker surrenders

Paris post office hostage-taker surrenders (AFP)

PARIS: A man, who holed up in a post office in a suburb northwest of Paris with two hostages on Friday (Jan 16), surrendered and has been arrested, a police source said.

"There was no assault, the man gave himself up", the source said, adding that the hostages were "shocked but not injured".

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/paris-post-office-hostage/1595236.html

[tblue]

2. Oh thank goodness.

What a world these days. Not liking this new normal.

[navarth]

3. "Not liking this new normal."

Indeed. This is why I consider Children of Men to be the scariest movie made in the last 30 years. Because it portrays what things are going to be like in the 'not-too-distant future'; hell, it portrays what things are like in the 'all-too-close' future.

I worry about the future generations. We need to really work hard to not leave them too much of a mess. Looks like we're not doing the best job of it.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "Children of Men"

Pretty damn deep movie.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Excellent news. n/t

[Surya Gayatri]

6. Colombes : le preneur d'otage interpellé (Hostage-taker in custody in Colombes, a suburb of Paris)

Source: Le Monde

The man who held 2 people for a little over an hour, Friday 16 January, Colombes, has been arrested, police said. The hostage taker was entrenched in the premises, with a "weapon of war". The two detainees in the facility were released and none of them is injured, according to police sources.





TERRORIST CONNECTION DISMISSED

According to a police source, the man walked alone into the post office at about 12:30 pm and some customers were able to escape. Known to the police as a common criminal, he had himself called the police "talking in a rambling way" and claiming to be heavily armed with grenades and a Kalashnikov.

A terrorist connection was soon ruled out. The Investigation Brigade of the Paris Judicial Police plus elite RAID police officers were on site. A helicopter flew over the civil security area where a major security perimeter was set up.





Read more: http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2015/01/16/prise-d-otage-dans-un-bureau-de-poste-a-colombes_4557900_3224.html


Excitement over! It apprears to have been just some publicity-seeking idiot. He called the cops himself!