Police in Paris have stormed a church near to an apartment where an armed siege had been taking place.

Officers forced entry to St Denys de l'Estrée Church in the Saint Denis area of the French capital at around 10:45 on Wednesday morning.

Reporters at the scene said there was a suggestion detectives thought weapons had been hidden in the church.

The incident is now over and anti terror police have left the scene. No one was injured.

This will be embarrassing for police, who've taken ages to try and break down the door pic.twitter.com/HCevBZ4Cgw

— Siraj Datoo (@dats) November 18, 2015

Earlier a woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban Paris apartment where the suspected mastermind of last week's gun and bomb rampage was believed to be holed up.

Police said one man was also killed and seven people arrested in the standoff, which began before dawn and ended seven hours later, when a loud bang rang out around the streets near the apartment building.

French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told reporters in the presidential palace after a cabinet meeting that "the operation is over".