Police in Germany shot dead a knifeman who ran towards them shouting 'Allahu Akbar' just hours after armed officers in France shot another attacker and two days after a man was stabbed to death in Paris.

The 37-year-old man first hit a patrol car with an unidentified object before rushing towards officers wielding a knife.

He was shot dead when he ignored warnings to stop the attack in Gelsenkirchen at around 7.40pm last night.

A police spokesman said the attacker was a Turkish national who lived in the city and had previous convictions for violent crimes.

The man was shot at around 7.40pm on Sunday evening in front of the South Police Station in Gelsenkirchen in the west of the country

The spokesman said: 'Two police officers were in front of the station in a patrol car.

'A man ran past the patrol car and suddenly hit the car with an object. The officials asked him to stop. The man attacked the officers with his arm raised and the object.'

The spokesman said the attacker had a knife in his other hand that he tried to hide behind his back.

One of the officers shot him dead after he ignored orders to stop and continued to threaten the officers and shouting 'Allahu akbar', he said.

The attack came just hours after a similar attack in Metz, France, when a knifeman was shot and wounded by police after threatening passersby and shouting 'Allahu Akbar' - meaning God is great in Arabic.

Police officers were pictured on the scene today following the attack in the French city of Metz

Police officers rushed to the scene in Metz where they managed to get the suspect on the floor (left and right)

The 28-year-old, who was shot in the legs, was 'known to be radicalised' and had a personality disorder, Metz public prosecutor Christian Mercuri said.

He was on an 'S-file' in France, meaning he was considered to be a serious threat to national security because of his obsession with radical Islam, including groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

It followed a knife attack on Friday in Paris which left one dead and two injured.

Nathan Chiasson, 22, who was reportedly wearing a suicide vest and no shoes, was shot dead by police in the Hautes-Bruyères park at around 2pm.

France has suffered several major attacks by Islamist militants in recent years.

Co-ordinated bombings and shootings in November 2015 at the Bataclan theatre and other sites around Paris killed 130 people - the deadliest attacks in France since World War Two.

The attack happened in Metz (stock image above) just days after another attack hit France

French police secure an area in Villejuif near Paris, France, January 3, 2020 after police shot dead a man who tried to stab several people in a public park

Suicide bombers pledging allegiance to ISIS targeted the Stade de France, cafes, restaurants and the Bataclan music venue, where 90 died.

The same year two gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda broke into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and butchered 17 people dead inside and three outside.

In July 2016, 86 people were killed and more than 400 injured when a 19 tonne truck was deliberately driven into crowds on the seafront promenade in Nice.

The terrorist, a Tunisian immigrant, was shot dead by police.

During the same month, two ISIS terrorists murdered an 86-year-old Catholic priest during a church service in Normandy.

Germany has also been targeted. In December 2016, 11 people died and 55 were injured when a truck ploughed into a Christmas market.

Just months before, an asylum seeker stabbed five people on a train near Würzburg, while a Syrian refugee blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach injuring 15.