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French police secure the site near the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, February 3, 2017 after a French soldier shot and wounded a man armed with a knife after he tried to enter the Louvre museum in central Paris carrying a suitcase, police sources said. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
French police, soldiers and firefighters are seen in front of the street entrance of the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France, February 3, 2017 after a French soldier shot and wounded a man armed with a machete and carrying two bags on his back as he tried to enter the Paris Louvre museum. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
A French soldier shot and wounded a man armed with a machete and carrying two bags on his back on Friday as he tried to enter the Paris Louvre museum in what the government said appeared to have been a terrorist attack.
The man shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and rushed at police and soldiers 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 toward the soldiers at around 10 a.m. (0900 GMT).
"It was an attack by a person ... who represented a direct threat and whose actions suggested a terrorist context."
Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said during a visit to Bayeux in Normandy: "It appears to be an attempted attack of a terrorist nature."
The soldier who fired the bullets was from one of the patrolling groups that have become a common sight around the capital since a state of emergency was declared across France in November 2015. An anti-terrorism inquiry has been opened, the public prosecutor said in a statement.
Another soldier was slightly wounded in the incident.
The identity and nationality of the attacker remains unknown for now, French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told reporters. Interior Minister Bruno le Roux abandoned a trip to the Dordogne region to return to Paris.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-shooting-idUSKBN15I12C
