Givaga/iStock/Thinkstock(PARIS) — ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on police officers on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Thursday evening that left one officer dead and two others wounded.

The terrorist group released a message through its news agency Amaq saying that the attacker was “one of the fighters for the Islamic State.”

The assailant was killed but has not been publicly identified, a police spokesperson said.

French President François Hollande said that one bystander was injured during a shootout between police and the attacker and that the leads so far indicated the attack was of a “terrorist nature.”

French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said during a press briefing that a man exited his car and started a shooting at a police car with an automatic weapon around 9 p.m. The attacker continued shooting at police as he attempted to flee the scene and and was killed by police in an exchange of gunfire, Brandet said.

A terrorism investigation into the attack had been opened, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Paris police posted tweets earlier in the evening telling people the area around the Avenue des Champs-Élysées was on lockdown and that a police operation was underway.

The U.S. State Department’s bureau of consular affairs warned its Twitter followers to avoid the area “after a shooting.”

The Champs-Élysées is an iconic boulevard popular with tourists and Parisians alike that has theaters, shops, restaurants and, at one end, the Arc de Triomphe.

President Donald Trump shared “our condolences” with the people of France during a news conference with the Italian prime minister, who was at the White House today.

“It’s a very terrible thing that’s going on in the world today,” Trump said, adding that he thought it was “another terrorist attack,” though that had not been confirmed at the time.

“What can you say? It just never ends. We have to be strong, we have to be vigilant,” he said.

The incident comes as France heads into a presidential election to be held on Sunday. Several of the major candidates cancelled their scheduled campaign stops for Friday, French daily Le Figaro reported.</s>Paris: A police officer was gunned down in the heart of this capital on Thursday, just three days before French voters will cast ballots in the first round of the presidential election.



Police officers control passersby near the Champs Elysees in Paris after a shooting. Photos/AFP

Islamic State rushed to claim responsibility for the attack, which left the policeman and the assailant dead and three others wounded, including a civilian. Police have confirmed the identity of the gunman, but are withholding his name to allow time to determine whether he had any accomplices, Paris chief prosecutor François Molins said at the crime scene.

Investigators have already searched the shooter's residence in suburban Paris, Efe news agency reported. IS said the assault was the work of one of its "soldiers," a Belgian national identified only by the pseudonym Abu Yusuf al-Baljiki. French President François Hollande said he was convinced the shooting was an act of a "terrorist character."

"We have a great determination to battle terrorism here and everywhere our forces are engaged," the head of state said in a televised address. "With regard to the security forces, the nation's support is total," Hollande said, adding that the government will organize a tribute to the slain policeman.

Authorities will remain on the highest alert, especially for possible threats to the election, he said. Hollande said he convened a meeting of France's defense council for Friday morning. The incident on the Champs-Elysees, Paris' iconic main avenue, occurred shortly before 9 pm, interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

A car pulled up next to a police vehicle and a man emerged and opened fire with an automatic weapon, the spokesman said. "On the face of it, the officers were deliberately targeted," Brandet said. Evidence and witness statements indicate that the attack was carried out by one man, Brandet said.

Paris police ordered the immediate evacuation of the Champs-Elysees and suspension of service at nearby metro stations. France has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when more than 130 people were killed in a single night by coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.

Several of the candidates vying in Sunday's presidential ballot issued statements of sympathy for the victims and their families, and some referred to the shooting an act of terrorism. Two presidential hopefuls canceled rallies scheduled for Friday.

US President Donald Trump, in comments prior to Hollande's televised address, said that the violence in Paris "looks like another terrorist attack." "It never ends," he said during a joint press conference in Washington with the visiting Italian prime minister, offering condolences to the French people.</s>PARIS - The Latest on the shootings of two police officers in Paris (all times local):

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the shooting on Paris' Champs Elysees that killed a police officer and left two others gravely wounded.

In a statement from its Amaq news agency, the group gave a pseudonym for the shooter indicating he was Belgian.

The attacker opened fire on a police van on the avenue before being killed.

The claim of responsibility came unusually swiftly for the group, which has been losing territory in Iraq and Syria.

And the pseudonym, Abu Yusuf al-Beljiki, indicated that the attacker already had ties of some sort to Islamic State extremists.

French President Francois Hollande says he is convinced the circumstances surrounding the attack on Paris police officers points to a terrorist act.

Hollande said after one officer was killed and two others seriously wounded on the grand Champs-Elysees boulevard Thursday night he is "convinced" the investigation indicates terrorism.

He did not elaborate.

Hollande says has convened a National Defence and Security Council to meet on Friday morning.

The council consists of top security, police and military officials and several members of government.

A French government spokesman says the assailant who opened fire on a Paris police van was armed with an automatic firearm akin to a "war weapon."

Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said no tourists or pedestrians were injured during the Thursday night attack that left one officer dead and two seriously wounded.

Police say the attacker was shot dead by an officer or officers.

Brandet refused to give any specific detail about the suspect's possible criminal history or affiliations.

He says the assailant's identity has not been formally confirmed.

Brandet says while witnesses have described only one gunman, the possibility of accomplices can't be ruled out.

Two police officials say the assailant who shot a police officer to death and wounded two others on Paris' Champs Elysees had been flagged as an extremist.

The officials had no other details about the attacker. He was shot to death after opening fire on a police van.

They spoke on condition of anonymity to share information about the ongoing investigation

French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation into the attack on police officers on Paris' famed Champs-Elysees boulevard.

The Paris prosecutor's office said counterterrorism investigators are involved in the probe into the Thursday attack that left a police officer and the attacker dead.

Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet says that police officers killed the attacker. He said one police officer was killed and two others were seriously injured and hospitalized.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert says unidentified gunman appeared to be alone when he allegedly opened fire on a police vehicle.

French President Francois Hollande has scheduled an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve following the shootings.

The shooting happened as the country is under a state of emergency from a series of extremist attacks.

A Paris resident says the gunfire that erupted on the French capital's famed Champs-Elysees shopping district sent scores of tourists fleeing into side streets.

Badi Ftaiti, a Tunisian-born mason who has spent three decades in Paris, said the attack that officials say left one police officer dead and another wounded didn't panic him.

But the 55-year-old says visitors to the French "were running, running....Some were crying. There were tens, maybe even hundreds of them."

Asked whether the attack was evidence that "Paris isn't Paris" anymore, as claimed by Donald Trump, Ftaiti said the U.S. President is "barking up the wrong tree."

He says: "Paris is Paris. It's America that's not America."

U.S. President Donald Trump says Thursday's fatal shooting in Paris "looks like another terrorist attack."

Paris police say a gunman has killed a police officer and wounded another before being killed himself in an attack on the Champs-Elysees shopping district.

It was unclear how Trump concluded that terrorism may have been a factor. Paris police have yet to announce a motive,

Trump is also offering condolences from the U.S. to the people of France.

He calls the attack a "terrible thing" and says "it never ends." He says people must be strong and vigilant.

The attack came three days before the first round of balloting in France's presidential election.

Paris police and soldiers have sealed off the area around the Champs-Elysees after an attack on police, ordering tourists back into their hotels and blocking people from approaching the scene.

Emergency vehicles blocked the wide avenue that cuts across central Paris between the Arc de Triomphe and the Tuileries Gardens, normally packed with cars and tourists.

Subway stations in the area were closed off on Thursday night while police secure the scene.

Security forces are more widespread in Paris since deadly Islamic extremist attacks in recent years, and France remains under a state of emergency.

The French Interior Ministry says the shooting attack on the famed Champs-Elysees boulevard in Paris deliberately targeted police officers guarding the area.

Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM television that a man came out of a car and opened fire on a police vehicle.

One officer was killed and another was wounded.

Brandet says the police officers were "deliberately" targeted.

He says police are securing the area but there is "no other police operation underway" in the popular area.

Brandet says it's too early to say whether the attacker might have had an accomplice, and said authorities are studying multiple potential motives.

Speaking in Washington during a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, U.S. President Donald Trump said the shooting in Paris "looks like another terrorist attack" and sent condolences to France.

Paris police say a gunman has killed a police officer and wounded another before being killed himself in an attack on the Champs-Elysees shopping district.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told The Associated Press that the attacker targeted police guarding the area near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station Thursday night at the centre of the avenue popular with tourists.

The attack came three days before the first round of balloting in France's tense presidential election. Security is high preceding the vote after police said they arrested two men Tuesday in what they described as a thwarted terror attack.

The incident recalled two recent attacks on soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris, one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport last month.

A witness identified only as Ines told French television station BFM that she heard a shooting and saw a man's body on the ground before police quickly evacuated the area where she works in a shop.

A French television station hosting a televised event with the 11 candidates running for president briefly interrupted its broadcast to report the shootings.

None of the candidates immediately commented.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet: "A man jumped out and opened fire on the police vehicle"

One policeman has been shot dead and two others wounded in central Paris, French police say, with their suspected attacker killed by security forces.

A lone gunman opened fire before being killed as he fled the scene, police say. The Champs-Elysees was sealed off.

President Francois Hollande said that he was convinced the attack was "terrorist-related".

So-called Islamic State (IS) said that one of its "fighters" had carried out the attack.

Islamist militancy is a major issue in the polls after recent mass attacks claimed by IS, with 238 people killed in jihadist attacks in France since 2015, according to data from AFP news agency.

Several candidates in Sunday's presidential election have ended their campaigns early as a mark of respect, with the centre-right's François Fillon calling on others to halt theirs too.

"On the face of it, the officers were deliberately targeted," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Eyewitness: "I heard two or three shots... then there was just panic all around."

Mr Hollande said after crisis talks with his prime minister and interior minister that the security forces had the full support of the nation and a national tribute would be paid to the fallen policeman.

He said he would hold a meeting of his security cabinet on Friday morning.

Because of its worldwide renown and its large number of visitors, the Champs-Elysees has long been seen as a potential target, the BBC's Hugh Schofield reports from the French capital.

Attacker identified

Image copyright AFP Image caption Police patrolled the area with weapons drawn

A car pulled up alongside a police bus just before 21:00 (19:00 GMT) and a man got out, opening fire with an automatic weapon at the bus, Mr Brandet said.

After killing an officer, he attempted to run away while shooting at other officers, two of whom he injured, the spokesman added.

He was then shot dead by security forces.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins later said that "the attacker's identity is known and has been verified".

"I won't reveal it, because investigations and raids are already under way, in particular to establish whether there is any evidence or not of complicity (in this attack)."

Meanwhile, IS identified the attacker as Abu-Yusuf al-Baljiki, in a statement carried by its Amaq news outlet.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption People could be seen walking towards police with arms raised to show their hands after the attack

The whole of the Champs-Elysees was evacuated and police vehicles were lined up near a point half way up the avenue around the George V metro station, our correspondent says.

Shots were heard near the Marks & Spencer store, provoking a panicked rush away from the scene by tourists and passers-by.

Witnesses interviewed by AFP recounted scenes of panic as people ran for cover and sought shelter.

"We had to hide our customers in the basement," said Choukri Chouanine, manager of a restaurant near the site of the shooting.

Thousands of troops and police guard tourist areas of the French capital. In February, a man armed with a machete in each hand was wounded after attacking soldiers on patrol at the Louvre Museum.

The following month, a 39-year-old man was killed at Orly airport after attacking a soldier.

Campaigns called off

The 11 candidates standing in Sunday's closely fought election were engaged in a final joint TV appearance to make their pitches as the attack happened.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Stay back... the area's dangerous", one police officer told the public

Marine Le Pen, of the far-right national Front, tweeted:"I feel for and stand by our security forces, who have been targeted again."

Mr Fillon went on Twitter to pay "tribute to the security forces who give their lives to protect ours".

Both Ms Le Pen and Mr Fillon later announced they were cancelling campaign events scheduled for Friday, the last day of canvassing for votes.

Independent centrist Emmanuel Macron said during his TV appearance that it was a president's "first duty to protect" and he expressed his "solidarity" with the police.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, standing for the far left, tweeted: "I strongly feel for the policemen killed and wounded and their families. Terrorist attacks will never go unpunished, accomplices never forgotten."

French candidates in last TV pitch ahead of vote

At the White House, US President Donald Trump said people had to be strong and vigilant.

"Our condolences from our country to the people of France," he said. "It looks like another terrorist attack and... what can you say? It just never ends."</s>Two other police officers and a female passerby were injured, according to Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins. The police returned fire and killed the Islamic extremist.

According to the Associated Press, police have searched the home of the attacker in a suburb east of Paris. A police document obtained by AP identified the searched address as the home of Karim Cheurfi, 39.

According to the report, the man was previously sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting two police officers in 2001.

French President Francois Hollande said in a late Thursday address that the attack was "of a terrorist nature."

In an interview with Radio Sputnik, security expert Dmitry Efimov, a member of Moscow Council's Advisory Committee on Security, explained how the Thursday attack was different from other terrorist acts in Europe in recent years.

"While previously attacks were carried out by those inspired by radical ideas and on their own initiative, this time there are signs that a professionally trained militant was involved," Efimov said.

He suggested that the attacker might have been trained in real combat conditions, most likely in Libya or Syria.

"It is known that the attacker was known to security services. It is clear that this was an attack of a different kind. It was directed by Daesh commanders. This is why the terrorist group was quick to claim responsibility," the expert pointed out.

"There are permanent anti-terrorist groups operating in France now. Moreover, the intelligence department and Paris police are involved. All necessary actions have been taken and a larger number of casualties was avoided. The attacker was shot almost immediately after he opened fire," Efimov said.

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!</s>PARIS (AP) — A gunman opened fire on police on Paris’ iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard Thursday night, killing one officer and wounding three people before police shot and killed him. The Islamic State group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.

French presidential candidates canceled or rescheduled last-minute campaign events ahead of Sunday’s first round vote in the tense election. Security already was a dominant theme in the race, and the violence on the sparkling boulevard threatened to weigh on voters’ decisions.

Investigators were conducting searches early Friday in at least one eastern suburb of Paris, according to three police officials. Authorities were trying to determine whether the assailant had accomplices, anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters at the scene.

The attacker emerged from a car and used an automatic weapon to shoot at officers outside a Marks & Spencer’s store at the center of the Champs-Elysees, Molins said. Two police officers and a woman tourist were wounded, he said.

The Islamic State group’s claim of responsibility just a few hours after the attack came unusually swiftly for extremist group, which has been losing territory in Iraq and Syria.

In a statement from its Amaq news agency, the group gave a pseudonym for the shooter, Abu Yusuf al-Beljiki, indicating he was Belgian or had lived in Belgium. The group described it as an attack “in the heart of Paris.”

Police and soldiers sealed off the area, ordering tourists back into hotels and blocking people from approaching the scene.

The attacker had been flagged as an extremist, according to two police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Islamic State group-inspired attacks have killed at least 235 people in France since January 2015, by far the largest casualty figure of any Western country. France remains under a state of emergency. Security has been especially high since Tuesday, when police said they thwarted a terror attack by arresting two men.

On Thursday night, emergency vehicles blocked the wide Champs-Elysees, an avenue lined with shops and normally packed with cars and tourists that cuts across central Paris between the Arc de Triomphe and the Tuileries Gardens. Subway stations were closed off.

The gunfire sent scores of tourists fleeing into side streets.

“They were running, running,” said 55-year-old Badi Ftaïti, who lives in the area. “Some were crying. There were tens, maybe even hundreds of them.”

A witness identified only as Ines told French television station BFM that she heard a shooting and saw a man’s body on the ground before police quickly evacuated the area where she works in a shop.

French President Francois Hollande said he is convinced the circumstances of the latest attack pointed to a terrorist act. Hollande held an emergency meeting with the prime minister Thursday night and planned to convene the defense council Friday morning.

The incident recalled two recent attacks on soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris: one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport last month.

Speaking in Washington during a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, U.S. President Donald Trump said the shooting “looks like another terrorist attack” and sent condolences to France.

A French television station hosting an event with the 11 candidates running for president briefly interrupted its broadcast to report the shootings.

Conservative contender Francois Fillon, who has campaigned against “Islamic totalitarianism,” said on France 2 television that he was canceling his planned campaign stops Friday.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who campaigns against immigration and Islamic fundamentalism, took to Twitter to offer her sympathy for law enforcement officers “once again targeted.” She canceled a minor campaign stop, but scheduled another.

Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron offered his thoughts to the family of the dead officer.

Socialist Benoit Hamon tweeted his “full support” to police against terrorism.

The two top finishers in Sunday’s election will advance to a runoff on May 7.

Associated Press Writers Angela Charlton and Raphael Satter in Paris and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.</s>PARIS, FRANCE (USAT) - The Islamic State claimed responsibility after one police officer was killed in a rare exchange of gunfire on the famed Champs-Elysees in central Paris just days before a critical presidential election.

Two other officers were seriously wounded in the attack in the popular tourist area in central Paris. The gunman was killed by police.

The Islamic State identified the attacker as Abu Yusuf al-Beljiki through its Amaq news agency, according to SITE Intel Group, a U.S.-based organization that monitors terrorists' activity online.

French President Francois Hollande said he is convinced the circumstances of the Paris shooting points to terrorist act, the Associated Press reported.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told AP the gunman deliberately targeted police on guard near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station. She said he appeared to act alone.

Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told BFM television that a man stepped from a car and opened fire on a police vehicle. A witness told Reuters that the attacker opened fire with a machine gun.

Security has been high in France leading up to the first round of hotly contested presidential elections Sunday. A French station hosting a televised event with the 11 candidates briefly interrupted its broadcast to report the shootings, AP reported.

As police blocked off key roadways in the heart of the French capital and told people to avoid the area, the broad avenues leading to the Arc de Triomphe were awash in police vehicles decked with whirling blue lights.

French prosecutors opened a terrorism investigation into the attack. Two police officers told AP the attacker had been flagged as an extremist, but offered no further details. The officers spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity to share information about the ongoing investigation.

In Washington, President Trump said the shooting in Paris “looks like another terrorist attack."

"It just never ends, We have to to be strong and we have to be vigilant, and I've been saying it for a long time," he added.

France has lived under a state of emergency declared following a terrorist attack in November 2015 that left 130 dead.</s>A police officer has been killed and two others injured in a suspected terrorist shooting in the centre of Paris.

The attacker opened fire on a police car parked on the Champs-Elysees before he was also shot dead, the French Interior Ministry said.

Police have not given a possible motive for the attack but a terrorism investigation has been launched.

Here is what we know so far.

Paris police say that a gunman killed one police officer and wounded two others before being killed himself in an attack on the Champs-Elysees shopping district.

The attack came three days before the first round of France’s tense presidential election.

What is the situation at the scene?

The world-famous avenue has been sealed off and nearby stations on the Paris Metro have been closed.

French police warned the public to stay away from the area and armed officers are at the scene.

They also asked people not to “spread any misinformation” that has not come from a “trusted source”.

Who was the attacker?

Paris authorities say police killed the gunman and that the attacker appeared to be alone.

French officials said the suspect in the attack was previously flagged as an extremist.

What has the reaction been?

President Francois Hollande has called an emergency meeting on Thursday evening. He said at a press conference that he is convinced the attack was a terrorist act.

France’s Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve paid tribute to the officer and tweeted that his thoughts are with the family.

US President Donald Trump, speaking at a press conference in Washington, said the incident “looks like another terrorist attack” and sent his condolences to France.

What about the tourists in the city?

Tourists have been warned to go back to their hotels and to let family and friends know that they are safe.</s>PARIS: A known terror suspect shot dead a French policeman and wounded two others Thursday on Paris’s Champs Elysees in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group days before a presidential election.

Observers had long feared bloodshed ahead of Sunday’s vote in France following a string of atrocities since 2015 and the violence is likely to thrust security to the front of voters’ minds.

The shooter opened fire with an automatic weapon on a police van on the world-famous boulevard at around 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), prompting tourists and visitors to run for their lives.

After killing the officer and injuring his colleagues just a few hundred metres from the Arc de Triomphe, the gunman was shot dead in return fire while trying to flee on foot, police sources told AFP.

A statement from the Islamic State group published by its propaganda agency Amaq said the attacker was “one of the Islamic State’s fighters.”

The killer, identified as a 39-year-old French man, was known to anti-terror police, sources told AFP, and raids took place at his address in a suburb to the east of Paris.

He was condemned to 15 years in prison in February 2005 on three counts of attempted murder, including against police officers.

The impact on the outcome of the French election is unclear — Sunday is the poll’s first round — but far-right leader Marine Le Pen, her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron, and scandal-hit conservative Francois Fillon cancelled campaign events planned for Friday.

Up until now, surveys showed voters more concerned about unemployment and their spending power than terrorism or security, though analysts warned this would change in the event of violence.

The shooting comes two days after the arrest of two men in southern Marseille with weapons and explosives who were suspected of preparing an attack to disrupt the campaign.

French President Francois Hollande promised “absolute vigilance, particularly with regard to the electoral process” and paid tribute to the police.

Anti-immigration contender Le Pen earlier welcomed security moving to the heart of the campaign as she took part in a prime-time interview show alongside 10 other presidential candidates.

“We are suffering the consequences of a laxity that has continued for years,” she said shortly before the shooting, promising to take a hard line against extremists and anyone suspected of being an Islamist.

For weeks, former banker Macron and Le Pen have been out in front but opinion polls now show there is a chance that any of four leading candidates could reach the election’s second-round runoff on May 7.

Conservative candidate Fillon and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon have closed the gap substantially in the last two weeks.

“The first responsibility of the president is to protect,” Macron said on the interview show. “This threat will be part of our daily lives in the next years.”

Fillon, who penned a pre-election book called “Beating Islamic Totalitarianism”, declared that “the fight against terrorism must be the absolute priority of the next president.”

As the first details of the attack filtered through, US President Donald Trump said that “it looks like another terrorist attack. What can you say? It just never ends.”

The bustling Champs Elysees lies in the heart of Paris and is lined with shops and restaurants. It was immediately blocked by armed officers after the attack and nearby metro stations were closed.

“We had to hide our customers in the basement,” Choukri Chouanine, manager of a restaurant near the site of the shooting, told AFP, saying there was “lots of gunfire.”

A spokesman for the interior ministry paid tribute to the fast reflexes of police at the scene who managed to kill the gunman and prevent further bloodshed on a busy spring-time evening.

A foreign tourist was slightly wounded in her knee by shrapnel during the shooting.

France is in a state of emergency and at its highest possible level of terror alert.

The Charlie Hebdo magazine was hit in January 2015, sites around Paris including the Bataclan concert hall were targeted in November the same year, and families at a fireworks display in Nice in July 2016.

In between, there have been a series of smaller attacks, often aimed at security forces.

Thousands of troops and armed police have been deployed to guard tourist hotspots such as the Champs Elysees or other potential targets, including government buildings and religious sites.

In February, a man armed with a machete in each hand attacked soldiers on patrol at Paris’s Louvre Museum. The attacker, a 29-year-old Egyptian, was seriously injured.

And in March, a 39-year-old man was killed at Paris’s Orly airport after attacking a soldier. AFP</s>ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on police officers on the Champs-Élysées in Paris Thursday evening that left one officer dead and two others wounded.

The terrorist group released a message through its news agency Amaq saying that the attacker was "one of the fighters for the Islamic State."

The assailant was killed but has not been publicly identified, a police spokesperson said.

French President François Hollande said that one bystander was injured during a shootout between police and the attacker and that the leads so far indicated the attack was of a "terrorist nature."

French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said during a press briefing that a man exited his car and started a shooting at a police car with an automatic weapon around 9 p.m. The attacker continued shooting at police as he attempted to flee the scene and was killed by police in an exchange of gunfire, Brandet said.

A terrorism investigation into the attack had been opened, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said that Parisians would not not give in to the threat of terrorism.

"Faced with this ordeal, I know that the determination of Parisians to defend their way of life and their values is complete," Hidalgo wrote on Twitter hours after the attack.

Face à cette épreuve, je sais que la détermination des Parisiens à défendre leur mode de vie et leurs valeurs est totale. #ChampsElysees — Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) April 20, 2017

Paris police posted tweets earlier in the evening telling people the area around the Avenue des Champs-Élysées was on lockdown and that a police operation was underway.

The U.S. State Department's bureau of consular affairs warned its Twitter followers to avoid the area "after a shooting."

The Champs-Élysées is an iconic boulevard popular with tourists and Parisians alike that has theaters, shops, restaurants and, at one end, the Arc de Triomphe.

President Donald Trump shared "our condolences" with the people of France during a news conference with the Italian prime minister, who was at the White House Thursday.

"It's a very terrible thing that's going on in the world today," Trump said, adding that he thought it was "another terrorist attack," though that had not been confirmed at the time.

"What can you say? It just never ends. We have to be strong, we have to be vigilant," he said.

VP Pence offers condolences after shooting of Paris police officers. "The people of France are on our hearts today." https://t.co/gZoZQbCi8n pic.twitter.com/sMXzrTK1is — ABC News (@ABC) April 21, 2017

And while in Indonesia Friday morning, Vice President Mike Pence said of the attack, "It’s just the latest reminder that terrorism can strike anywhere at any time -– something the people of Indonesia and the United States know all too well. As President Trump said yesterday, in the face of this great evil, and I quote, 'we have to be strong. And we have to be vigilant.'"

Pence added, "Today, the people of Paris have our condolences and our prayers. The people of France are in our hearts. And the people of Indonesia can be confident in the wake of this latest attack, we will not relent in our effort to end terrorism and the threat it present to both of our people, and I pledge to your our continued cooperation against terrorism in the uncertain days in which we live."

The incident comes as France heads into a presidential election to be held on Sunday. Several of the major candidates cancelled their scheduled campaign stops for Friday, French daily Le Figaro reported.
One policeman has been killed and another has been critically injured after a man opened fire at police officers at the Champs-Élysées in central Paris. The gunman was killed while attempting to escape, and a bystander has been injured. ISIL claims responsibility for the attack although the claim is doubted. The President of France Francois Hollande says that all leads indicate that the attack was of a "terrorist nature".