Children hostages freed in French school

Half a dozen infants taken hostage by a teenager with two swords at a nursery school in the eastern French city of Besancon were released on Monday.

The interior ministry told Reuters the hostage drama had ended and a Reuters cameraman at the scene saw the children led out safely after they had been held for around four hours by a 17-year-old youth armed with two swords.

It was unclear whether a kindergarten teacher who was being held with the infants had also been released.

The motives of the hostage-taker were unclear.

Agencies