Paris shooting: Hostages taken at Jewish bakery in Porte de Vincennes

Hostages have been taken by a gunman at a Jewish bakery at Porte de Vincennes in Paris.

There are suggestions that the gunman may be the one who shot dead a female police officer on January 8. Police are now evacuating the area.

Separately, an intense standoff is ongoing between police and the Kouachi brothers suspected of carrying out the massacre at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, on January 7.

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The gunman, believed to be the same man who killed a policewoman in Montrouge, southern Paris, on January 8 has reportedly stormed a kosher bakery and grocery store in the Vincennes area, taking five people hostage.

Witnesses said the man is heavily armed and opened fire upon entering the premises. Early reports suggest at least one person was injured in the shooting.

Security forces have rushed to the scene and are cordoning off the area.

The hostages are said to include women and children. Vincennes is located on the eastern outskirts of Paris.

Earlier local media named the Montrouge gunman as Amedy C., a 32-year-old radical belonging to the same jihadi cell of Cherif and Said Kouachi, the brothers who allegedly responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre.