Police close on terrorist borthers in France

Media reports said the suspects had possibly taken one person as hostage.

However, there was no confirmation to this report.

Earlier, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said an operation is underway to capture the two suspects- both brothers- Cherif Kouachi, 32 and Said, 34- in the massacre of journalists and cartoonists in the office of Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine two days ago.

Thousands of policemen and several military helicopters have been engaged in the manhunt continuing since Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, reports said shots were also fired in north-east of Paris during a car chase by police to track the suspects.

The two brothers were earlier located as France continued to be dogged by terror with a gunman killing a woman police officer and  explosion and shootings taking place in several areas on Thursday.

The whole of France was in mourning for three days for the victims of Wednesday's  brutal attack as the national flag was at  half mast and a crowd of nearly 40,000 people paid floral tributes to the deceased.

Media reports earlier said two men were located by the manager of  a gas service station in north of France. Their description matched with that of Cherif Kouachi and his brother Said.

France witnessed a dark day in its history with unknown gunmen attacking the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killing at least 12 people , including cartoonists and two policemen, as global leaders joined to condemn the incident on Wednesday.