Paris  - Five persons, including two children and a new-born baby, were killed Monday morning when a fire swept through their apartment building in a Paris suburb, rescue officials said.

The officials said that 29 further residents of the high-rise building containing social-welfare flats were injured, while fire fighters had to rescue 18 people from the flames.

The cause of the fire in the suburb of Sevran, north-east of Paris, was not initially clear. First indications were that the fire broke out in the stairwell of the building at around 4 am (0200 GMT).