Hostage Situation at Paris Post Office Ends, Suspect Surrenders to Police

A hostage situation at a Paris post office ended quickly on Friday when the suspect surrendered himself to police.

A suspect had reportedly barricaded himself inside a post office in the northern suburb of Colombes on Friday morning, keeping clients of the post office with him as he reportedly made incoherent demands to police. Witnesses say the suspect was reportedly armed with hand grenades and automatic rifles.

Following a brief standoff during which the suspect conversed with police, the man decided to surrender, releasing the hostages. Police have said that there doesn't seem to be a connection between the suspect and other recent extremist terror attacks that have jarred the small European city.

"There was no assault, the man gave himself up" one police source told the AFP, adding that the two hostages were "shocked but not injured".

 The man was reportedly already known to police and had been "speaking incoherently" during the brief hostage situation.

The post office incident came just 12 hours after France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced that 12 people had been arrested in overnight anti-terrorism raids angled at arresting those who may have been involved with last week's Charlie Hebdo newspaper attack that left 12 dead.

Authorities in Belgium also announced that 13 people were arrested in another anti-terrorism raid after two suspects opened fire on policemen in the city of Verviers.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Paris on Friday to offer his condolences to those killed in the recent Charlie Hebdo attack, as well as an attack on a Jewish supermarket that left five dead.

"I think you know that you have the full and heartfelt condolences of the American people and I know you know that we share the pain and the horror of everything that you went through," Kerry told French Preisdent Francois Hollande. "Our hearts are with you."