Daesh claims responsibility for Paris shooting

One police officer was killed and another two wounded on Thursday in a shooting in central Paris, police said, just days ahead of France's presidential election.

Hours after the incident, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency.

The group identified the attacker as one of its soldiers naming him as Abu Yousif - the Belgian.

Earlier, France's interior ministry said the attacker was killed in the incident in the early evening on the world-famous Champs-Elysees boulevard.

The famous shopping street in the heart of the city, which is popular with tourists and Parisians, was blocked by armed police and metro stations in the area were closed.

TRT World's Anelise Borges reports from Paris.

Dozens of vehicles from the emergency services were sent to the area.

A French interior ministry official said police officers were "deliberately" targeted in the attack. Police sources had said earlier that the shooting could have been an attempt at an armed robbery.

The shooting comes just two days after police arrested two men in southern Marseille with weapons and explosives who were suspected of preparing an attack to disrupt the first-round of the presidential election on Sunday.

France is in a state of emergency and at its highest possible level of alert since a string of terror attacks that began in 2015, which have killed over 230 people.

Thousands of troops and armed police have been deployed to guard tourist hotspots such as the Champs Elysees or other potential targets like government buildings and religious sites.

Up until now, polls showed voters more concerned about unemployment and their spending power than terrorism or security, though analysts warned this would change in the event of further bloodshed.