French police stormed a bank in Toulouse yesterday, arresting a gunman with psychiatric problems who claimed to be an al-Qaida militant and freeing his two hostages after a seven-hour siege.

A gunman claiming links to al-Qaida who took four people hostage in a Toulouse bank today has released one of the four, a woman.

A gunman claiming to be linked to al Qaida has taken hostages in a bank in the French city of Toulouse and fired a shot.