POLICE across Merseyside paid tribute today to the officers murdered in the Paris terror attack.

Officers paused for two minutes "in solidarity and sympathy" at 11.30am, 24 hours after the shootings at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The flag at Merseyside Police’s headquarters at Canning Place is flying at half mast.

The request for the show of respect came from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Police Federation.

Deputy Chief Constable Andy Cooke, said: “Tragically 12 people, including two police officers, lost their lives yesterday following a shooting at the head offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. 

"A female police officer has also been killed in the French capital and another person seriously injured in a further attack this morning. 

"As a mark of respect the force has held a two minute silence to remember all those killed, including our three French colleagues and the flag is flying at half mast.”

Several arrests were made overnight in the hunt for two remaining suspects over the massacre at the newspaper.

Two men being hunted have been spotted in northern France, according to reports.

Local media said two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo attack were seen armed and getting into a Renault Clio in Aisne, a region to the north-east of the capital.

The sighting was said to have been reported to police by a petrol station worker.

It comes after police and security forces mounted a nationwide manhunt for brothers Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi.

The operation was launched after masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people in France's worst terrorist atrocity since 1961.

Meanwhile, police are also searching for the perpetrator of a separate shooting in which a policewoman was killed just outside Paris this morning.

It is unclear whether there is any link between the two incidents.