A police operation is underway to "neutralise" the two suspects in this week's massacre of 12 people in Paris at a satirical magazine, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says.
"An operation is underway which is set to neutralise the perpetrators of the cowardly attack carried out two days ago," he said in a televised statement.
Police have closed in on Said and Cherif Kouachi, who are thought to have taken at least one hostage at a small printing shop in Seine-et-Marne, around 12 kilometres from Paris' main airport Charles De Gaulle.
Prior to the standoff, the suspects had hijacked a Peugeot 206 nearby from a woman who said she recognised the brothers accused of killing 12 people in Wednesday's attack on Charlie Hebdo.
As a politically divided and crisis-hit France sought to pull together after the tragedy, the head of the country's Muslim community - the largest in Europe - urged imams to condemn terrorism at Friday prayers.
In a highly unusual step, President Francois Hollande was due to meet Front National leader Marine Le Pen at the Elysee Palace later Friday, as France geared up for a "Republican march" on Sunday expected to draw hundreds of thousands.
Cazeneuve announced that a total of 88,000 security forces were mobilised across the country and that an international meeting on terrorism would take place in Paris on Sunday.
"We are in a war against terrorism. We are not in a war against religion, against a civilisation," Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday.
The fugitives are reportedly holed up in a printing firm called Creation Tendance Decouverte on an industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goele.
A message on the town's website said: "A police operation is under way. All residents are called on to stay at home. Children are confined and secure in schools."
Meanwhile, Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport has closed two runways to arrivals.
An airport spokesman said the flight diversions are not affecting schedules.
At least three helicopters hovered above the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, near to the airport.
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