UPDATE: Paris hostage siege ends without bloodshed

UPDATE (Friday 5.55pm):A MAN who claimed to be armed with a Kalashnikov and grenades and took two hostages in a Paris post office has given himself up to police.

No one was hurt in the incident, in which dozens of heavily armed police surrounded the building in the Parisian suburb of Colombes.

The man, who has since been described as a ‘depressed and unstable’ 31-year-old, emerged from the post office with his arms held up as police aimed their guns at him.

He was made to kneel, then handcuffed and arrested.

Earlier in the day he had called police to confirm he had hostages and was armed with a Kalashnikov and grenades.

Within minutes 80 RAID police commandos were on the scene.

France remains on high alert for terrorism following the Paris attacks that left 17 people plus three terrorists dead.

Across Europe there have been raids on suspected Islamists, with two killed in Belgium, and two men arrested in Berlin. Hundreds of German police took part in a series of raids.