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Wannabe attacker Sallah Ali was shot dead wearing a fake suicide belt earlier, on the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.

Police placed large swathes of the French capital on lockdown, evacuating public places, closing shops and shutting schools, amid fears more attackers were about to pounce.

Cops were earlier forced to open fire on the 20-year-old Moroccan as he was running towards the station wielding a meat cleaver near Gare du Nord railway station.

Officials said he was wearing a suicide belt, with wires poking out from his body, and he shouted Allahu Akbar – "God is great" in Arabic – as he neared the station.

The Paris prosecutor said he was shot dead carrying a mobile phone and a sheet of paper showing the Islamic State flag.

Details later emerged how the attackerwas obsessed with ISIS, also known as Daesh, and "swore allegience" to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Francois Mollins said in a statement: "A mobile phone and a piece of paper, on which appear the Daesh flag and a clear written claim in Arabic, were found on the individual."

The attack attempt has come a year to the day after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris which killed 11 journalists at the offices as well as a policeman outside.

Photos show the suspect lying dead on his back with a robotic device used in bomb disposal exercises next to his body.

(Image: AP) (Image: REUTERS) (Image: TWITTER) (Image: DS)

Police officials said the man has not been named but investigators have already identified him, according to French media.

Detectives later said the suicide bomb was fake.

April Summers, a British tourist whose hotel is close to the scene, told Daily Star Online: "There was a lot of ambulances and police sirens all day and we didn't know if it was just precautions because of the previous attacks but now we hear about this it does make sense and it is quite scary."

She said: "There are so many policemen with machine guns. The general atmosphere is quite uneasy."

Residents near the scene in Rue de la Goutte d'Or in the 18th arrondissement have been told to shut their windows and keep off their balconies.

The station is chillingly close to the magazine's office – less than three miles separate the two.

Two officials said the man had wires extending from his clothing, and an explosives squad was scrambled to the site, before finding that the suicide belt was a dummy.

An official says Parisian police are investigating the incident as potential "terrorism".

Yvan Assioma, of police union Alliance, said tension was high on the anniversary of the Hebdo attacks.

"The alert is constant," he told the broadcast network iTele.

Nora Borrias was unable to get home because of the barricades. Shaken by the incident, she said: "It's like the Charlie Hebdo affair isn't over."

Officials have said they think the attacker at the police station and they are not looking for any other suspects in relation to it.

Slowly, the area is returning to normal, with some Metro lines reopening as police searches continue.

A helicopter is still stationed overhead and two schools remain closed. The area round the police station is still cordoned off.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: AFP/GETTY) (Image: PH)

Schools in Paris are on lockdown as at least a dozen riot police vans block off the attack location.

Pictures posted on social media show a man in jeans and a grey jacket lying with his arms out at his sides on the pavement, yards from the entrance to the police station.

Two officials said the shooting came shortly after noon on Thursday, half an hour later than the Charlie Hebdo attacks one year ago.

Just minutes before, French President Francois Hollande paid homage to police officers killed in the line of duty, including three shot dead last January.

In a speech to police forces, Hollande called for better surveillance of "radicalised" citizens who have joined ISIS or militant groups in Syria and Iraq when they return to France.

He added: "We must be able to force these people -and only these people- to fulfill certain obligations and if necessary to put them under house arrest, because they are dangerous."