FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Tourists and worshippers were seen at 4.30pm local time (3.30pm BST) on Tuesday running away from the cathedral in the centre of the French capital. Dozens of armed police sealed off the area and put the Gothic cathedral into lockdown with nearly 1,000 tourists and worshippers inside. Police shot a man who attempted to attack multiple officers with a hammer outside the popular tourist destination visited by million every year. French interior minister Gerard Collomb, said the attacker shouted: "This is for Syria" and in custody, he told police he is "a soldier of the Caliphate". The Paris prosecutor's office has launched a counter-terrorism investigation into the attack, the first since President Emmanuel Macron won power last month and days before the first round of a parliamentary election in France.

Getty•Matthew Currie Holmes A man was seen on the ground outside Notre Dame Cathedral

We have moved on from sophisticated terrorism to a form of terrorism where any object can be used to attack Interior Minister Gerard Collomb

Mr Macron wants to extend a state of emergency that has been in place since jihadi gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in coordinated attacks on entertainment venues in Paris in November 2015. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the attacker was carrying the identification card of an Algerian student and that preliminary information indicated he had acted alone. Tuesday's attack had parallels with one in April when a militant shot dead one police officer and wounded two others on Paris' Champs-Elysees boulevard. Other attacks have targeted the security forces and have been noticeable for their simplicity. Mr Collomb said: “We have moved on from sophisticated terrorism to a form of terrorism where any object can be used to attack."

Notre Dame terror: Gunshots heard at Paris cathedral Tue, June 6, 2017 GUNSHOTS have been heard at the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris as police rushed to the scene. Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 13 French police stand at the scene of a shooting incident near the Notre Dame Cathedral

Paris Police's SGP Unit confirmed one of their officers was "slightly wounded in the head by a hammer blow" and was taken to hospital. The attacker was held on the ground by police after being shot in the thorax because he refused to stop. Visitors inside the cathedral tweeted their families saying they were trapped inside the building. One of those trapped was Nancy Soderberg, former White House Deputy National Security Advisor.

NC A man was seen on the ground in the square outside the cathedral

She had been with her niece, Fraser, in London on Sunday, the day after the London Bridge terror attack. Police told everybody in the cathedral to raise their arms to show they were not armed. One holidaymaker inside Notre Dame wrote on Twitter: "Not the holiday experience wanted. Trapped in Notre Dame Cathedral after police shoot a man. We are with our 2 terrified children." The streets surrounding Notre Dame were cleared by police. A witness outside the cathedral, said: "I heard two explosions." Paris police, tweeted: "A police intervention is in progress in the square in front of Our Lady Intervention, avoid the area."

British tourist, Matthew Currie Holmes,‏ wrote on Twitter: “So we are trapped in Notre Dame Cathedral. Something is happening outside we don't know what it is. Police sirens can be heard #NotreDame. “Needless to say my family and I are a little on edge. We were in London when the London Bridge attacks happened.” Matthew said police were asking everyone inside the Cathedral to raise their arms, suggesting they were looking for other armed assailants. The motive for the attack was not immediately known. Last September three women were arrested after police found a car laden with gas cylinders abandoned near Notre Dame Cathedral in what the interior ministry at the time said was a likely planned imminent attack.

Nancy Soderberg•Twitter All the tourists and worshippers had to put their hands in the air

Twitter Briton Matthew Currie Holmes took a picture of everybody trapped inside Notre Dame

Matthew Currie Holmes Visitors were told to hold their hands up to check nobody was armed

France has been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices and a Jewish supermarket in Paris which killed 17 people and wounded 22. Since then soldiers have been patrolling streets alongisde police to protect tourist sites, government buildings and events. In November 2015 during a series of coordinated terror attacks 130 people were killed by seven attackers. Three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France during a football match.

Twitter Police cleared the area around the famous tourist attraction

Twitter Police were seen stopping traffic around the cathedral