Official: French hostage-taker used `fake firearm`

Paris: An official says a man who took hostages at a school complex just south of Paris used a "fake firearm."

All hostages were released unharmed and a suspect detained after this morning`s incident.

Patrick Dallennes, a top official in the Val de Marne region, says: "It wasn`t a firearm he used but a fake one with gas cartridges ... Without the capacity to kill."

He added: "It`s made to scare... But it`s not very dangerous. It was a replica and at first it was hard to tell that it was fake."

The drama began as parents dropped their children off at the complex, which was being used as a summer camp.

The alleged hostage-taker was incoherent in his talks with police and his motivations remain unclear.

PTI