PARIS: Gun man shot dead after killing police officer, wounding 2 others

A 39-year-old French national known for previous violent crimes has been killed after he shot and killed a police officer and injured two others at the Champs Elysees shopping district in the French capital of Paris.

Terror group, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility for the attack which took place three days before France’s first round of presidential election.

Reacting to the incident, French interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet, said the attack happened near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station, at the centre of the avenue popular with tourists.

“An automatic weapon was used against police, a weapon of war,” Brandet told reporters, adding that the “terrorist threat” in the country remained high.

“A vehicle stopped near a [parked] traffic police vehicle. A man got out straight away and opened fire on the police, fatally injuring one police officer,” Brandet said.

“The man then tried to run away along the pavement and aimed at the police. He injured two of them, apparently seriously, and one policeman shot back and killed the attacker.”

French television networks reported that the chief suspect was a 39-year-old French national known for previous violent crimes. Raids took place at his address in a suburb to the east of Paris.

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