Thursday, April 20, 2017
PARIS (AP) — An attacker with an automatic weapon opened fire on police on Paris' iconic Champs-Elysees tonight, killing one officer and seriously wounding two others before police shot and killed him. The Islamic State group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told The Associated Press the attacker targeted officers guarding the area near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station at the center of the sparkling shopping boulevard popular with tourists. She said he appeared to be acting alone.
Police and soldiers sealed off the area, ordering tourists back into hotels and blocking people from approaching the scene.
The attack came three days before the first round of balloting in France's tense presidential election. Security has been especially high since Tuesday, when police said they thwarted a terror attack by arresting two men.
The Paris prosecutor's office said counterterrorism investigators are involved in the probe of tonight's attack. Two police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the investigation, said the attacker had been flagged as an extremist. They had no other details about him.
The claim of responsibility several hours after the attack came unusually swiftly for the IS group, which has been losing territory in Iraq and Syria.