
The Moroccan knifeman wearing a fake suicide belt who was shot dead trying to attack a police station in Paris today was carrying a letter in which he pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Sallah Ali had been trying to enter the police station in Barbes, northern Paris, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and threatening officers with a knife on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

The 20-year-old convicted thief was carrying a mobile phone and a sheet of paper showing the black flag of ISIS - and claims of responsibility written in Arabic, according to officials in France.

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Shot dead: Sallah Ali had been trying to enter the police station in Barbes, northern Paris, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and threatening officers with a knife on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks

Taken out: Ali, 20, was carrying a mobile phone and a sheet of paper showing the black flag of Islamic State

Weapon: This zoomed-in version of the same photo shows a knife lying on the ground near Ali

Investigation: After searching the body, French police confirmed that the man was wearing a belt made out to look like a suicide vest, but which was a fake and did not contain explosives

Guarding the streets: Police are pictured tonight patrolling the area near the shooting in northern Paris

Onlookers: A group of people stand behind a roadblock tonight as police guard the area near the shooting

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said: 'A mobile phone and a piece of paper, on which appear the Daesh (ISIS) flag and a clear written claim in Arabic, were found on the individual.’

A police union source said Ali, who is originally from Casablanca, was wearing a belt made out to look like a suicide vest - but a bomb disposal unit has since confirmed that it was a fake.

Police have cleared hundreds of people from the area, which has a high percentage of residents with a multi-ethnic or immigrant background, over fears that other assailants could be at large.

A Paris police official said officers are viewing the incident outside the Goutte d'Or commissariat - close to the Gare du Nord Eurostar hub - as 'more likely terrorism' than a standard criminal act.

Earlier, Luc Poignant, a police union official, said Ali may have been wearing an explosives vest, and cried out 'Allahu Akbar' or 'God is great' in Arabic.

A witness said he had heard 'two or three shots' this morning, before the man was on the ground. Ali was said to have 'sworn allegiance' to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the reclusive leader of ISIS.

Killed: Ali can be seen wearing the apparent 'suicide vest' outside of the police station in northern Paris today

Fear on the streets: An armed police officer secures a street after Ali was shot dead outside the police station

In discussion: French riot police check pedestrians as they secure the area after the man was shot dead

Response in action: French police are seen near the Rue de la Goutte d'Or in the north of Paris today

He had been sleeping rough in Paris, but in 2013 had been arrested for theft in Sainte-Maxime, the upmarket French Riviera seaside resort. His fingerprints were recorded at the time.

His body, dressed in light blue jeans, a grey combat-style jacket and black boots, could be seen lying outside the police station until well into the afternoon.

'He was clearly obsessed with Islamic State, and its leaders,' said an investigating source. 'This was made very clear from the piece of paper found.'

The source added: 'At around 11.30am, the man appeared outside the police station and showed off his kitchen knife. He was told to get back, but refused. Shots were fired and he died instantly.’

By 1pm, bomb disposal experts could be seen using a robotic device to check Ali's corpse for explosives. Sniffer dogs were also present.

They are said to have found a 'small package with electric wires hanging out of it', said another source, working for Paris police.

Terror alert: French police check a pedestrian as they secure the area after the man was shot dead in Paris

Cordoned off: Armed French police patrol near the Boulevard de Barbes in the north of Paris after the shooting

Getting closer: A bomb robot inspects the body outside the police station in Barbes, Paris, and at least a dozen riot police vans were blocking off the area in the Goutte d'Or district

Probe: A bomb disposal unit investigates Ali's body after reports that he was seen wearing a 'suicide vest'

The Goutte d'Or neighbourhood in Barbes, the 18th arrondissement of Paris, was locked down - as were two metro lines running through the area, although they later reopened.

Ppassengers arriving on the Eurostar from London were told to steer clear of the area. Armed police could be seen stopping passers-by, and especially young men of North African appearance.

Police expanded their security cordon an hour after the attack, swiftly and roughly clearing out hundreds of people who had gathered nearby. Shops were told to close along neighbouring streets.

Minutes before the shooting, French President Francois Hollande had paid homage to police officers killed in the line of duty, including three police shot to death during the January 7-9 attacks.

In a speech to police forces charged with protecting the country against new attacks, Mr Hollande said the government was passing new laws and ramping up security, but the threat remained high.

Mr Hollande especially called for better surveillance of 'radicalised' citizens who have joined ISIS or other militant groups in Syria and Iraq when they return to France.

Close call: The shooting was just a few miles from the former offices of Charlie Hebdo which came under attack exactly one year ago

On the scene: French officials say the man was wearing what appears to have been an explosives vest or belt, and police are investigating the attack as potential terrorism

Armed: Military officers stand guard near the shooting scene after the man carrying a knife attempted to enter a Paris police station in the Goutte d'Or area, northern Paris

Patrol: French police secure the area after the shooting in northern Paris shortly after 11am UK time today

'We must be able to force these people - and only these people - to fulfil certain obligations and if necessary to put them under house arrest... because they are dangerous,' he said.

Three police officers were among the 17 dead in the attacks, which ended after two days of bloodshed in France. Mr Hollande said officers die in the line of duty 'so that we can live free’.

Yvan Assioma, of the police union Alliance, said tension was high on the anniversary of the attacks against Charlie Hebdo. 'The alert is constant,' he told the broadcast network iTele.

The incident today came exactly one year after the terrorist attack on the satirical magazine. 'Allahu Akbar' were also the words used by the two Paris-born brothers who carried out that massacre.

Islamist militant brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi entered Charlie Hebdo's Paris offices and killed 11 people on January 7.

Two days later, Amedy Coulibaly, a friend of the Kouachi brothers who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, killed four and held more than a dozen people hostage at a kosher supermarket in Paris.

Emotional time: People walk around on the Place de la Republique tonight during a gathering that marks one year since the attacks on Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper in Paris

A year later: People walk near a banner reading 'Je suis Charlie' on the Place de la Republique in Paris tonight

Tributes: France this week commemorates the victims of last year's Islamist militant attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket with eulogies, memorial plaques and another cartoon lampooning religion

Remembered: A woman lights candles to mark the one-year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris

This week sees a number of memorial ceremonies held across Paris and France to honour the total of 17 victims who were killed in the attacks last January.

The French capital is still reeling from the terrorist attacks on November 13, when 130 people were killed and 352 people were injured in a series of shootings and suicide bombings for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.

A spokesman for France's Interior Ministry said an enquiry was today opened for 'attempted murder associated with a terrorist organisation'.

'The security forces showed true professionalism and vigilance. It is this which allowed them to neutralise this man,' said the spokesman.

Some of the police evidence was disputed by at least two eyewitnesses, one of whom said: 'He had his hands in the air, and was retreating. He was not shouting religious slogans. The police killed him anyway.'

Officers said there would be a full enquiry, with CCTV used to try and establish exactly what happened.

Leader: French President Francois Hollande lays a wreath to pay tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks during a visit to the French anti-terror security forces at the police headquarters in Paris