after a standoff lasting nearly 24 hours, reuters is reporting french police have begun an assault on the apartment where a self-described al qaeda militant accused of killing seven people is holed up. just moments ago three loud blasts were heard at the site of the stand-off. the suspect apparently confessing to the killings of three french paratroopers, a jewish rabbi and three jewish children over the past ten days. dan rivers is live. dan, i guess you could hear the shots. what s the very latest you re able to figure out is happening? reporter: yeah, i mean we heard these three loud explosions about 20 minutes ago. there were definite kind of flashes in the sky giving us the impression it was flash bangs that they were throwing in. but there s been nothing since then, so we re slightly kind of perplexed as to what is actually going on now. reuters are reporting that the deputy mayor of toulouse has said the operation to go in has begun but there s very little in activit