Montpellier siege: Police on standby to storm jewellery shop where two women are held hostage

Two people are being held hostage by a gunman in a jewellery store in the southern French city of Montpellier.

A police officer said the attacker has locked himself inside the shop, in southern France.

According to Russian broadcaster RT, the hostages are reportedly two women, a 30-year-old and a 40-year-old, who work in the shop. They were threatened at gunpoint and held for several hours.

Special police forces arrived on the scene along with the region's prosecutor and the city mayor. Shops nearby have been evacuated and the electricity cut as police prepare to storm the jewellery store.

The incident comes just hours after hostages were freed from a kosher supermarket in Paris and two suspects in the Charlie Hedbo attack were killed in northern France.

According to Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret, quoted by Midi Libre, there is no reason to connect the siege with the events in Paris and in northern France. Unverified reports suggest it is a robbery gone wrong rather than a terror attack.