Updated

Paris, Jan 16 (Reuters): An armed man who earlier took several hostages at a post office northwest of Paris on Friday has surrendered with no one hurt, a French police official told Reuters.

The man equipped with a military weapon took an unconfirmed number of hostages at the post office in the town of Colombes, just outside the capital.

"I cannot confirm or deny whether it is linked to terrorism," an official at the city prosecutor's office told Reuters earlier, declining to give further details.

BFM TV, citing an unidentified source, said the hostage drama was not related to last week's attacks in Paris.

French police arrested 12 people earlier on Friday suspected of helping militant Islamist gunmen in last week's killings in Paris. There have been numerous false alerts across the city since the attacks.

Earlier Report

Paris, Jan 16 (AFP): An armed man was holed up in a post office outside Paris on Friday with two hostages, police said, adding there did not appear to be any link to extremist attacks.

Police sources said several post office clients had managed to escape and that the gunman himself had called them. The sources said he was "speaking incoherently" and was heavily armed with grenades and Kalashnikovs.

The area around the post office in Colombes, a city northwest of Paris, had been cordoned off, with a helicopter flying overhead and elite security forces on the ground.

The French capital is still jittery after a series of attacks last week by Islamist gunmen left 17 people dead.