Gunmen hold up Primark store with 10 people inside near Paris

PARIS - Gunmen were holed up inside a Primark store near Paris Monday with about 10 people inside after what appears to be an attempt to rob the shop, police said, adding that special forces had been dispatched to the scene.

"Around 6:30 am (0530 GMT), two or three armed criminals went into the Primark store for what we think was initially an attempt at armed robbery," a police source, who wished to remain anonymous, said of the incident at Villeneuve-la-Garenne.

Another police source said an employee first alerted her boyfriend of the hold-up around 7 am when she sent him a text message saying they had been taken hostage by two armed men.

Police have stopped all traffic in the area around the Qwartz mall where the Primark store is located, and all other shops in the vicinity have closed up.