Armed police have raided a flat in the north Paris suburb of Saint Denis in an operation linked to Friday’s attacks.
A female suspect blew herself up with a suicide belt, a prosecutor says. Some reports suggest two suspects died. There were explosions and gunfire in the operation, which is continuing.
Five people have also been arrested.
The focus of the operation is Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged mastermind of the Islamic State-claimed attacks that killed 129 people.
Roads have been blocked off around Rue de la Republique in Saint Denis, in the same district as the Stade de France where suicide attackers detonated bombs on Friday.
Truckloads of soldiers joined armed police at the scene.
“I’ve been hearing gunshots continuously, like fireworks… There have been some breaks but… to me it sounds like continuous gunshots,” one resident, Benson Hoi, told the BBC.
Another witness, Amine Guizani, told the Associated Press he heard the sounds of grenades and automatic gunfire.
“They were shooting for an hour, non-stop. There were grenades. It was going, stopping, Kalashnikovs, Starting again,” he said.
At least five people were believed to have been in the targeted third floor flat in Rue de La Republique, French media report.
A woman inside the apartment set off an explosives vest at the beginning of the raid and died.
Three men who were also in the apartment have been detained by anti-terrorist police.
A man and a woman were stopped and detained close to the apartment, police said.
There are unconfirmed reports that one person remains holed up in the flat. Other unconfirmed reports have put the death toll at between two and three.
Several police officers are reported to have been wounded in the operation.
Earlier, Deputy Mayor Stephane Peu urged local residents to stay indoors, saying “it is not a new attack but a police intervention”.
