Philippe Lopez, AFP | Police patrol on the Champs-Élysées on April 21, the day after the attack.

A man believed to be an accomplice of the gunman who killed a police officer on the Champs-Élysées in April has been remanded in custody and placed under formal investigation, a judicial source said on Saturday.

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The suspect's DNA was found on the weapon used by the shooter, identified as Karim Cheurfi, who opened fire on a police vehicle on the famous Paris avenue, killing one officer and injuring two others before being shot dead.

The arrested man, who was not named, was not known to anti-terrorist services, the source said.

The suspect told investigators that he did not know 39-year-old Cheurfi, the source added.

The attack took place days before the first round of France's presidential election. A note praising the Islamic State group was found next to Cheurfi's body. Police later found other weapons in his car, including a shotgun and knives.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack as the work of one of its "fighters". However, the IS group named the gunman as "Abu Yussef the Belgian" and not Cheurfi, who was from the eastern Parisian suburbs, raising questions over his links to the jihadists.

The shooting was the latest in a string of attacks that have claimed 239 lives around France since 2015.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)



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