Paris Hostage Crisis Not Linked to Terror Attacks

A bank manager and his family were held hostage in the northern French town of Roubaix, near the Belgian border on Tuesday. However, officials were quick to point out that the situation was not linked to the Paris attacks earlier this month.

A source from the police said, "This is apparently not a terrorist attack, it's apparently a robbery."

Local authorities also told Reuters that the hostages are now safe and are being kept in a "secure place."

The New York Daily News reported that a group of armed men with Kalashnikovs stormed the victim's house in Roubaix and tried to force him to open the bank's safe, said local prosecutor Frederick Fevre.

The manager ran out of the house when the police arrived, leaving his wife and their one-year-old daughter, who were then held captive. Fevre also said that one of the assailants targeted one the officers, resulting in an exchange of fire. Two hours later, a police tactical unit raided the house and was able to free the the family from captivity.

They also shot one of the gunmen dead, while another one was captured in a garden behind the bank manager's home. An unknown number of suspects were said to have fled the scene and are not yet unidentified. However, several suspects have already been arrested.

Medical services also said that several people were suffering from gunshot wounds at the scene.

A local resident told RT News, "There were three guys with Kalasnikovs, they shot at police and police shot at them. There are a lot of police on the streets."

This hostage-taking crisis came just over a week after terrorists attacked Paris, and considering that one of the bombers fled the city into Belgium a few hours after, it was initially thought that the gunmen involved in the current crime was also involved with ISIS, but that isn't the case.

France is still on High Alert after the November 13 attacks, which left 130 people dead. The coordinated bombing in and around the capital was followed by threats from the Islamic State (ISIS), who shared videos threatening other cities with the same fate, if not worse.

This situation led to separate criminal operations such as the latest hostage crisis taking on a greater significance. The town of Roubaix, only 60 miles west of Brussels, also remains on high alert and has been under lockdown orders for five days.