A hostage-taking was underway near Paris' main airport after police hunting the Charlie Hebdo killers exchanged fire during a car chase, security sources said.
Dozens of police had earlier pursued Al Qaeda brother Cherif and Said Kouachi along the National 2 highway, ending in the small town of Dammartin-en-Goele, around 7 miles from Charles de Gaulle international airport.
Two people were killed and several others injured before the hostages were taken.
The suspects were holed up in a small printing business named CTD, a source close to the investigation said. 'It's not sure how many people are inside,' the source said.
Prior to the standoff, the suspects had hijacked a Peugeot 206 in Montagny-Sainte-Felicite from a woman who said she recognised them as the wanted men, a police source said.
The standoff was close to the same area where special police forces had been combing the countryside for the brothers.
The dramatic development came after thousands of police and soldiers had focused their hunt for the gunmen in a nearby forest amid fears they were planning a final 'spectacular' before capture.
The search for the gunmen last night focused on a cave in a vast forest in northern France, but had turned up nothing.
The pair left behind their identity cards in the Citroen they used for the massacre – a move which appeared deliberate, intelligence specialists said.
There was also no sign of the AK-47s and rocket launchers which they had earlier been seen with, suggesting they had taken them into the forest.
Police now fear they could take hostages or are planning a final 'spectacular' before capture as the search enters its third day
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