Story highlights Man attacked officer with hammer, interior minister says

Assailant was also armed with knives, official says

Paris (CNN) The man who attacked an officer Tuesday at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris said, "This is for Syria," French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.

The man, believed to be an Algerian student, attacked the officer with a hammer but was also armed with knives, Collomb said.

Collomb said the officer's condition is not serious.

Another officer shot the assailant in the chest, police union spokesman Yves Lefebvre told BFMTV. The attacker was taken to the hospital, and the situation brought under control, police told CNN.

Video posted on social media showed what appears to be the attacker lying motionless on the ground next to a police officer.

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