This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/hostages-taken-in-french-town-of-roubaix-near-belgian-border
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Hostages taken in French town of Roubaix | Hostages taken in French town of Roubaix |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Police were called to a hostage situation in the northern French town of Roubaix near the Belgian border on Tuesday evening, but local media cautioned it had “no link with a terrorist attack”. | Police were called to a hostage situation in the northern French town of Roubaix near the Belgian border on Tuesday evening, but local media cautioned it had “no link with a terrorist attack”. |
| Local newspaper La Voix du Nord said there were no injured people. | Local newspaper La Voix du Nord said there were no injured people. |
| Gunmen were in a property on the corner of avenue Gustave Delory and rue Vaillant, Roubaix. Police sources suggested there was no link to the Paris attacks of 13 November and the hostage-taking may be related to a robbery. | Gunmen were in a property on the corner of avenue Gustave Delory and rue Vaillant, Roubaix. Police sources suggested there was no link to the Paris attacks of 13 November and the hostage-taking may be related to a robbery. |
| Residents said they heard gunfire around 7pm on Tuesday evening. La Voix du Nord reported automatic gunfire and “several injured”. The area around the flat was sealed off. | |
| “An operation is under way after hostages were taken. Gunshots were fired and the neighbourhood has been cordoned off,” a police source told Reuters. “A bank director and his family may have been taken as hostages.” | “An operation is under way after hostages were taken. Gunshots were fired and the neighbourhood has been cordoned off,” a police source told Reuters. “A bank director and his family may have been taken as hostages.” |
| Sources say the gunmen - two or three of them - were holding hostage a bank manager who works for Crédit Municipal and his wife and possibly, but not confirmed, children at the family home in Roubaix. | Sources say the gunmen - two or three of them - were holding hostage a bank manager who works for Crédit Municipal and his wife and possibly, but not confirmed, children at the family home in Roubaix. |
| French media reported that the gunmen approached the bank manager near his home and ordered him to open the safe at around 6.50pm on Tuesday. Jean-François Cordet, the local prefect, arrived around 9.15pm as the siege was continuing. | |
| At 10pm, police announced that the situation was over. Two hostages had escaped earlier and the last two were taken away by the emergency services. | |