French police evacuated 18 people from a Primark clothes store in a shopping precinct just outside Paris that was held up by robbers on Monday, police sources said.
French media reported that three armed men were on the run following the police raid, adding that the people had taken refuge in a canteen. No one was injured, Le Monde newspaper said on its website.
There was no indication that the incident was a terrorist act, police sources said, adding that it was not immediately clear where the robbers were or whether there were two or three.
Police could not confirm whether the people had been taken hostage.
The incident took place early Monday in Villeneuve-la-Garenne, in the Hauts-de-Seine region to the northwest of the French capital.
