French anti-terrorist police have surrounded Dammartin-en-Goele, a small industrial town north east of Paris after at least one person was taken hostage in a print works by two men believed to have carried out an attack on a Paris satirical journal.

Police and anti-terrorist forces blocked all entries to the town of about 8,000, clearly seeking to limit the scale of any siege.

Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Smoke rises from a building in the industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele after police cornered the gunmen Joel Saget/AFP
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Children are evacuated from a school in Dammartin-en-Goele, where the two brothers are holding one person hostage Dominique Faget/AFP
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
French gendarmes stand guard as school children board a bus as they are evacuated in Dammartin-en-Goele Eric Gaillard/Reuters
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Members of the media gather near the industrial estate Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Firefighters work in the street close to the building on the industrial estate where it is thought the suspects linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre are holding a hostage Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
French Special Police Forces get out of a helicopter in a field next to an industrial estate where suspects linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre are believed to holding at least one hostage Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Police congregate at the rear of the industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Charlie Hebdo helicopter
A police helicopter flies over Dammartin-en-Goele during the manhunt for the gunmen who burst into the office of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing staff members and two policemen Joel Saget/AFP
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Helicopters with French intervention forces hover above the scene of a hostage-taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, north east of Paris Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
A member of French special forces stands on a roof in the industrial zone in in Dammartin-en-Goele Joel Saget/AFP
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
An armed French police officer stands guard at the industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele Dominique Faget/AFP
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
French special forces take position on a rooftop at the industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Intervention forces arrive inside the perimeter of the complex where a hostage-taking situation continues at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Police reinforcement arrives on a country lane near the industrial estate Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Earlier, police had chased a vehicle at high speed along the nearby A2 motorway towards Paris as authorities appeared to be closing in on the two brothers. Gunshots rang out and police trucks, ambulances and armoured vehicles descended on the area close to Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport.

According to a security official, the brothers stole a Peugeot amid gunfire in the town of Montagny Sainte Felicite, about 50km (30 miles) north east of Paris.

Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
French gendarmes secure a roundabout near the scene of a hostage-taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele Eric Gaillard/Reuters
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Members of the French gendarmerie intervention forces arrive at the scene of a hostage-taking in Dammartin-en-Goele Christian Hartmann/Reuters
Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Armed French gendarmes patrol in Dammartin-en-Goele while hunting the Islamist brothers who killed 12 people Dominique Faget/AFP

Thousands of French security forces have mobilised to find Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices on Wednesday (7 January) that left 12 people dead.

One brother was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008. Survivors of the bloody assault on Charlie Hebdo said the attackers claimed allegiance to al-Qaeda in Yemen. The weekly newspaper had been repeatedly threatened — and its offices were firebombed in 2011 — after spoofing Islam and depicting the Prophet Mohammed in caricature. The gunmen shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) as they carried out the attack.

Charlie Hebdo Dammartin
Journalists work near the industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele where the two main suspects in the Charlie Hebdo killings were sighted Eric Gaillard/Reuters

The fugitive suspects were already under police surveillance. One was jailed for 18 months for trying to travel to Iraq a decade ago to fight as part of an Islamist cell. Police said they were "armed and dangerous".

US and European sources close to the investigation said that one of the brothers, Said Kouachi, was in Yemen in 2011 for several months training with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the group's most active affiliates.

Said and Cherif Kouachi
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US government sources said Said Kouachi and his brother Cherif were listed in two security databases, a highly classified database containing information on 1.2 million possible counter-terrorism suspects, called TIDE, and the much smaller "no fly" list maintained by the Terrorist Screening Centre, an interagency unit. US television network ABC reported that the brothers had been listed in the databases for "years".

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