Man attacks bystanders with knife in central Paris

Attacker killed one person before being shot dead by officers, police source says

Policemen stand guard in Paris centre after one person was killed and several injured in a knife attack in the city. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images
Policemen stand guard in Paris centre after one person was killed and several injured in a knife attack in the city. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images

One person was killed in a knife attack in Paris on Saturday and the assailant was shot dead by police, a police source said.

French interior minister Gerard Collomb confirmed there had been an attack in Paris and said there were victims, without giving any details. The attacker had been overpowered by police, he said.

The Paris prefecture had earlier said a person had carried out a knife attack in the second arrondissement – or district – of the French capital. Paris's opera and landmark retail stores are located in that area.

The police source said some seven people had been injured. BFM TV said two were in a critical condition.

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A terrorism investigation has been opened by French authorities into the attack.

France has been on high alert as a series of attacks commissioned or inspired by Islamic State, also known as Isis, have hit the country over the past three years in which dozens of people have been killed. – Reuters