French soldier shoots attacker near the Louvre in Paris
A French soldier opened fire on an attacker near the Louvre museum in Paris this morning, in an incident that Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve described as "terrorist in nature".
The soldier wounded a man armed with a knife who was trying to enter the Louvre.
The man shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and attacked another soldier before being shot near the museum's shopping mall, police said, adding a second person had also been detained after acting suspiciously.
The attacker was alive but seriously wounded, the head of Paris police Michel Cadot told reporters at the scene, adding the bags he had been carrying contained no explosives.
"The soldier fired five bullets," Cadot said, describing how the man hurried threateningly towards the soldiers.
"It was an attack by a person… who represented a direct threat and whose actions suggested a terrorist context."
An anti-terrorism inquiry has been opened, the public prosecutor said in a statement.
The identity and nationality of the attacker remains unknown for now, said French interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet.
Another police source told Reuters the man had been trying to get into the museum's underground shop with a suitcase. Police said the area had been evacuated. The interior ministry said on twitter the incident was "serious".
Evénement grave de #sécurité publique en cours à #Paris quartier du #Louvre, priorité à l'intervention des forces de sécurité et de secours pic.twitter.com/PxTLacJk7a
— Ministère de l'Intérieur et des Outre-mer (@Interieur_Gouv) February 3, 2017
The government also cautioned people against spreading false information and asked that people "only relay information emanating from a trustworthy source".
#Louvre #Paris Ne diffusez pas de fausses informations et suivez les consignes de #sécurité des comptes officiels pic.twitter.com/5Dz117Y4xL
— Ministère de l'Intérieur et des Outre-mer (@Interieur_Gouv) February 3, 2017