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A French offical connected to the investigation confirmed the attacker as Ziyed Ben Belgacem - a 39-year-old French-born national. Reports suggested he was a serial offender with 44 offences on his criminal record - his most recent being for armed robbery. The police source initially said the man was a radicalised Muslim who was known to the authorities. However, later the French Interior Ministry confirmed the man was on a crime watchlist, not a terror watchlist. According to the Paris prosecutor's office, he had previously been on the authorities' radar for suspected Islamic extremism. That's despite his home being one of many searched in the days after the 2015 Paris suicide attacks which saw 130 people killed.

TWITTER First images emerge of Paris shooter Ziyed Ben Belgacem

Judicial sources say his father and brother have been arrested by police. Police sources say the suspect text his father and brother after the first shooting, saying: "I did a bullsh*t, I shot at the police". The family are French citizens of Tunisian descent, and lived on a council-run estate in Garges-lès-Gonesse. The suspect has been described as a drug-taking serial offender who had spent around 15 years of his life in prison. He was most recently released from the Fresnes Prison, in the southern suburbs of Paris in November, and was wanted by police for breaking his bail conditions.

GETTY Police say the two attacks in Paris are linked

EXPRESS

The first attack saw three police officers shot at from a car in the Northern Paris suburb of Stains. The driver, who was stopped by officers at a road check just before 7am local time, opened fire while pretending to retrieve his identity papers. One officer suffered a wound to her head but was said to be only "lightly injured". The man is believed to have stolen two cars to make his getaway - one was found abandoned at Vitry, containing a bloodied t-shirt, and the second was later found abandoned at Orly airport. Shortly after the Stains shooting, the suspect made his way to southern Paris' Orly airport where he attempted to snatch a weapon from a soldier. He then ran into a McDonald's restaurant at the airport before being shot dead by a border patrol officer. The French Interior Ministry confirmed no explosives were found on the man's body. The anti-terrorism prosecutor has now opened an investigation into the attacks.

Live images: Orly Airport Shooting Sat, March 18, 2017 Orly Airport shooting. Terror attack in Paris Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 9 A medical gurney is wheeled into Orly airport after shooting incident near Paris

Franck Lecam, who was at the airport when the attacker struck at 8.30am local time, said: "We had queued up to check in for the Tel Aviv flight when we heard three or four shots nearby." He added: "There are policemen, emergency workers and soldiers everywhere in all directions. A security official told us that it happened near gates 37-38 where Turkish Airlines flights were scheduled." The head of the Paris airports company confirmed searches of Orly Airport had been completed, and passengers who had been stuck onboard 13 flights that arrived just before the attack have now been allowed to disembark. At least 15 other flights were diverted to Paris' other main airport, Charles de Gaulle.

REUTERS The same man was behind both attacks in Paris on Saturday morning