Gunfire erupts as police hunt suspected attack leader

Gunfire and explosions shook the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis early on Wednesday as French police surrounded a building where a Belgian Islamist militant suspected of masterminding last week's attacks in the French capital was believed to be holed up.

A woman died after detonating a bomb at the scene, the French prosecutors' office said, adding that three people in the apartment had been arrested and two others seized nearby.

A judicial source said a second person had died in the pre-dawn raid, but there was no immediate official confirmation.