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A "radicalised Muslim" man on a terror watch list has been shot dead at Paris' Orly airport after trying to steal a soldier's firearm, just hours after he shot a police officer in the face.

French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux told reporters that the man failed to snatch the soldier's automatic assault rifle and was killed at the airport south of Paris.

The attacker - identified by French media as Ziyed Ben Belgacem - approached three patrol members of the Air Force and wrestled a female soldier to the ground as he tried to seize her weapon. She held on and the other two soldiers opened fire.

Authorities say the 39-year-old, a French national who was born in the Paris area, was the same man who shot a police officer with an air gun in the capital's northern outskirts and carjacked a woman at gunpoint earlier Saturday morning.

Police sources told Reuters he was a "radicalised Muslim known to intelligence services". Mr Le Roux later confirmed the man was known to police and intelligence officers, and his spokesman said terror was a "possible" motive.

The attack occurred as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made a two-day visit to Paris and prepared to meet victims of recent terror attacks.

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During the ensuing operation anti-terror police evacuated Orly and did a sweep of the deserted airport in search of potential accomplices or explosives.

No explosives were found on the man's body or elsewhere inside the airport. A CCTV image showed his body on the floor in front of a bakery in the south terminal moments after he was shot dead.

The female soldier was uninjured and was "doing fine" after the "extremely violent" attack, a French Army spokesperson said.

A photo published by Le Figaro showed the man's body on the floor.

The anti-terrorism section of Paris prosecutors' office is leading the investigation.

Police later detained the suspect's father and brother for questioning, and raided the man's home in the suburb of Garges-les-Gonesse.

It was revealed he sent his father a text message reading "I've screwed up, I've shot a policeman".

His father told Europe1 that he doubted his son had ties to terrorism, describing him as a drug user and "psychologically fragile".

French media reported that the man had more than 40 offences on his record, and had been convicted of "ordinary" crimes in the past, including armed robbery and drug offences.

His home was searched in 2015 after authorities "detected" that he had been radicalised, but they found nothing incriminating.

He was wanted by the courts for armed robbery and was banned from leaving the country because he was under a "J" card, RTL reported.

He was released from a French prison last November and had spent 15 years of his life behind bars, Europe1 reported.

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Terrified passengers said they heard gunshots in the south terminal at about 8.30am and were told to flee.

There were around 3,000 people inside the airport, but one was injured, said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

All flights in an out of Orly - which has two terminals (south and west) and is served by airlines including British Airways and easyJet - were suspended as the airport was shut down and roads were blocked.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of terror and panic as the dramatic incident unfolded in the packed airport.

A witness named Dominique was waiting for a flight with his wife when he heard shouting and saw the man wrestling with the soldier on the floor.

He said the man was holding the soldier "by the neck" and was trying to snatch the gun.

Dominique said he and his wife heard gunshots as they fled.

Passenger Franck Lecam, 54, told Le Parisien: "We were waiting in line for a flight to Tel Aviv when we heard three or four gunshots nearby. The whole airport was evacuated.

"There are policemen, emergency workers and soldiers everywhere in all directions."

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Mr Lecam said a security official at the airport told him the incident occurred near check-in desks where Turkish Airlines flights were scheduled.

In a statement French President Francois Hollande saluted the "courage" of soldiers and police officers involved in the incident.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, also hailed the soldiers, but blamed "successive governments" for the violence.

The attack occurred as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in Paris on an official visit. On Saturday they met with victims and first responders from the deadly 2015 terror attacks.

A spokesperson for the royal couple said the Orly incident would have no impact on the final day of their two-day visit.

The incident caused travel chaos for thousands of domestic and international travellers.

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All flights to and from Orly - the second busiest airport in France - were suspended for hours, with 29 flights, and 6,000 passengers, being diverted, mostly to Charles de Gaulle airport.

Thousands of passengers on at least 13 flights were stranded on the tarmac at Orly as the incident unfolded. They were later allowed to disembark once the scene was safe.

Passengers who were scheduled to catch flights later in the day were told to stay away from the airport, as roads leading to the terminals were blocked.

Trains to the airport were also halted.

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Luton-based easyJet operates from the west terminal and had 46 flights scheduled to arrive and depart Orly on Saturday.

Of those, 11 had already operated before the shooting, and another 18 (nine departing and nine arriving) were cancelled following the incident. Two inbound flights were diverted to Charles de Gaulle.

A British Airways spokesperson said one of its flights was cancelled and none were diverted.

The BA spokesperson added: "We are doing all we can to assist our customers while the airport authorities at Paris Orly investigate the incident.

"The safety and security of our customers and colleagues is always our priority."

Orly's west terminal reopened at around 1pm, and flights out of the south terminal resumed two hours later.

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In the earlier incident in Stains, in Paris' northern outskirts, the driver of a Renault Clio car shot a female police officer in the face with an air gun when he was stopped for an identity check at about 7am.

He produced his identity papers and then pulled out the gun and wounded the officer.

Police later found the Clio car abandoned in a car park in Vitry-sur-Seine, in Paris' south-eastern suburbs, with a bloody T-shirt inside, sources told Le Parisien.

In photos published by French websites, bullet holes were visible in the windscreen, suggesting he may have been wounded by police.

After ditching the car the man entered a bar and fired four shots as he threatened customers, Europe1 reported.

The man then stole a woman's Citroen Picasso car at gunpoint while she was with her 18-year-old daughter, and drove to Orly airport, where that vehicle was found abandoned in a car park after the attack on the soldier.

France has been under a state of emergency following a series of deadly terror attacks across the country, which have left more than 230 people dead.

Soldiers stationed at Orly are taking part in Operation Sentinel in response to the attacks.

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The military operation has been in place since a massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.

It was reinforced followed the extremist attacks in Paris in November 2015 and a Bastille Day truck attack in Nice in the French Riviera in June last year.

Uniformed soldiers carrying assault rifles have become a common sight at French airports and major tourist attractions, including the Eiffel Tower, as the country remains under a significant threat of attack.

More than 7,500 soldiers are currently stationed around the country.

Last month an Egyptian man, Abdullah Reda al-Hamahmy, 29, was shot and wounded after attacking French soldiers, shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") who were guarding the Louvre Museum in the capital.

In March 2016, ISIS claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks on Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital which killed 35 people, including three suicide bombers.