Attack on Paris police station, other assailants could be at large

PARIS (AP)

Police have cleared hundreds of people from the neighborhood of an attack on a Paris police station amid fears that other assailants could be at large.

A single unidentified attacker was killed by police after threatening them with a knife.

Tensions were high in the Goutte d’Or neighborhood in Paris’ 18th arrondissement, a multi-ethnic district not far from the Gare du Nord train station.

Police expanded the security cordon about an hour after the attack, swiftly and roughly clearing out hundreds who had gathered at a subway station and along nearby streets.

Shops were ordered shuttered along neighboring streets.

Two French officials say the man shot dead was wearing a fake explosives vest.

The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, said he had wires protruding from his body. They said he has not yet been identified.

Yvan Assioma, of the police union Alliance, said tension was high on the anniversary of the attacks against the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, which left two police officers dead a year ago Thursday.

“The alert is constant,” he told the broadcast network iTele. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it was investigating.

Sirens are wailing and schools are in lockdown in the Paris neighborhood. At least a dozen riot police vans are blocking off the area in the Goutte d’Or district.