A soldier opened fire on an man armed with a machete outside the world-famous Louvre museum in Paris, police said Friday.

France's Interior Ministry said on Twitter that the incident was "serious" and the area was secured.



Michel Cadot, the head of the French capital's police force, said: "We are dealing with an attack from an individual who was clearly aggressive and represented a direct threat, and whose comments lead us to believe that he wished to carry out a terrorist incident."

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Cadot added the man was carrying a machete and shouted "Allahu akbar" — Arabic for "God is great" — during the incident.

The soldier fired five shots and the suspect was seriously wounded in the incident, according to Cadot.

He added that the man had been carrying two backpacks, but no explosives had been found.