Update: Paris hostages freed after gunman hands himself in

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Update: A gunman who took two people hostage in a post office in the Paris suburb of Colombes today has handed himself in to police, with the siege ending without injury. 

According to French newspaper Liberation the "unbalanced" man, who is believed to have been armed with a Kalashnikov and handgun, had no connection to the Charlie Hebdo attacks last week, in which 17 people were killed.

He was not known to authorities and local reports said he had spoken "of heartbreak". 

Although the incident was brought to a relatively quick, and thankfully non-violent end, it has come at a time when Paris is already on edge. The city has been on high alert since last week's dual terrorist incidents.

Police appear to have reacted quickly to this latest incident, with eyewitnesses reporting a large number of emergency services on hand. 

 
 

 

 

 

 
Here is a video taken by one eyewitness, Dario Spagnolo.
 

 
As one Twitter user points out, our perspective on hostage situations has become quite telling.
 

 
Separately, French President Francois Hollande has spoken out against terrorism in the wake of last week's attacks, telling ambassadors from around the world; “Our response has to be firm in the face of terrorism. It can only be collective."
 
He added: "We are waging a war against it (terrorism), but not a war against a religion but a war against hate. 
 
"The attacks in Paris are an insult to Islam… Muslims are the main victims of terrorism."
 
It was not only the Charlie Hebdo attacks he took aim at, describing the actions of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram as “crimes of humanity”. Hollande pledged to “give more help to countries fighting this scourge”. 
 
US secretary of state John Kerry travelled to Paris to pay his respects to the victims of last week's shootings and subsequent hostage situations. 
 

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