Police circled a French town after gunfire erupted Friday as two brothers suspected of killing 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were hunted.

Paris police spokesperson Xavier Castaing told NBC News that an operation was underway in Dammartin-en-Goele, about 20 miles northeast of the French capital, as authorities tracked Cherif and Said Kouachi. He added that shots had been fired and hostages were taken at a building. The town is located about five miles from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Hostages were taken early Friday amid gunfire in the village of Dammartin-en-Goele, 25 miles (42 kilometers) northeast of Paris.

The hijacking took place in the area where police have been searching for two suspects in Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo attack. The French news organization RTL said the hijackers are probably the Kouachi brothers, Cherif and Said, whom police have named as suspects in that attack.

The armed men were involved in a car chase before entering a commercial building and taking an unknown number of hostages, the report said.

Police forces backed by helicopters are reportedly surrounding the building.

Franco-Algerian suspects Said Kouachi, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 32, were last tracked by military and police helicopters Thursday evening to the Aisne and the Oise regions north-east of Paris.

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