French police have shot and killed a man in a car park near Paris following a knife attack.

The incident took place near to the Hautes-Bruyères State Park in Villejuif, according to the Prefecture de Police.

At least three people were stabbed in the Paris suburb before police were able to stop the attacker.

A local mayor said one person was killed and several injured in the afternoon attack, but police couldn’t immediately confirm the death or the number of injured people.

Videos of the attack circulating on social media show armed police shooting the attacker in a Carrefour car park.

The footage appears to show the attacker wearing what resembles an explosive vest.

Police are advising people to stay away from the area.

The two injured victims are being treated in nearby hospitals, Laure Beccuau, the prosecutor whose office is handling the case, told reporters.

She said witnesses were being interviewed to establish what happened. She declined to disclose details about the attacker.

In the past four years, the French capital has been rocked by major attacks resulting in mass casualties.

In October last year, four people were stabbed to death at the Paris police headquarters by Mickael Harpon, an IT specialist working for the police.

Prosecutors said that attacker, who was shot dead by police, had come under the sway of radical Islamists.

Coordinated bombings and shootings by Islamist militants at the Bataclan theatre and other locations around Paris killed 130 people in November 2015.

Witnesses of the latest incident reported hearing the knifeman shout “Allahu akbar” during the attack.