The Louvre museum in Paris has been cordoned off after a French soldier shot a man wielding a machete as he tried to force himself into a shopping mall at Paris’s Louvre museum in what looked like a terrorist attack, according to police officials. The man shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and attacked another soldier before being shot near the museum's shopping mall, police said, adding a second person had also been detained after acting suspiciously.

The attacker was alive but seriously wounded, the head of Paris police Michel Cadot told reporters at the scene, adding the bags he had been carrying contained no explosives.

Evénement grave de #sécurité publique en cours à #Paris quartier du #Louvre, priorité à l'intervention des forces de sécurité et de secours pic.twitter.com/PxTLacJk7a — Ministère Intérieur (@Place_Beauvau) February 3, 2017

The French Interior Ministry reported that there has been a “grave public security incident” in the vicinity of the Louvre museum. The area has been sealed off.

The man was carrying bags when he attempted to enter the shopping mall. After being denied entry, the man stabbed one of the soldiers, injuring him lightly, said Michel Cadot, a senior police official in Paris. Soldiers then shot the assailant five times, including once in the stomach, Mr. Cadot added. The assailant is in custody. The French PM said the Louvre attack was 'terrorist in nature.'

Les services de secours arrivent au Louvre pic.twitter.com/ULFZ8NqK3S — Jonathan RT France (@Jonathan_RTfr) February 3, 2017

"The soldier fired five bullets," Cadot said, describing how the man hurried threateningly towards the soldiers. "It was an attack by a person... who represented a direct threat and whose actions suggested a terrorist context."



The attacker cried out "Allahu Akbar," a French police spokesperson said, adding that no explosives have been found so far. Police also said that the attacker’s remarks led them to believe that he had intended to carry out a terrorist attack, and was possibly acting alone. An anti-terrorism inquiry has been opened, the public prosecutor said in a statement.

The identity and nationality of the attacker remains unknown for now, French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told reporters.

The French interior ministry says 250 people locked inside the Louvre following attack and they will be allowed out in small groups once vetted

France has been hit by a series of militant Islamist attacks over the past two years that have killed more than 230 people, and which have been claimed by the militant Islamist group Islamic State. The country is less than three months away from a presidential election in which security and fears of terrorism are among the key issues. It has been living under a state of emergency since November 2015.

Paris was also planning to submit its official bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games on Friday with a launch show at the Eiffel Tower around 1730 GMT. The most recent deadly attack took place in the southern city of Nice when a man drove a truck into a crowd on the seafront killing 86.

Live feed from the scene of the attack: