A robbery attempt turned to be a hostage situation after three gunmen entered the Primark shopping centre near Paris Monday morning.

Le Parisien newspaper quoted a source saying that the assailants entered the shop at around 6.30am armed with shotguns. The source also added that one of the gunman may have been recognised as a Primark employee.

Police officials say that 18 people were safely evacuated after the incident and the situation was resolved with no bloodshed. However, the gunmen are still at large.

The police was reportedly alerted by a Primark employee who managed to send a message to her friend about the hostage. The police also told BBC that they did not think that the incident could be realted to a terror attack.