Four killed in Paris police stabbing, attacker shot dead

A knife-wielding man working at police headquarters in central Paris went on a rampage Thursday, stabbing and killing four employees before himself being shot dead, officials said.

A fifth person who was critically injured was being treated in hospital after what was the deadliest attack on police in France in years.

Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said that the attacker, a 45-year-old employee from the IT department in the police intelligence section, had killed three men and a woman before being killed in the courtyard of the square stone building on the Ile de la Cite.

Three of the dead were police officers and the four was an administrative assistant, he told reporters at the scene.

Speaking alongside him, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the attacker had been working for the police since 2003 and had "never shown any behaviour problems".

The police were "particularly stricken by this exceptionally grave incident", he said.

The police building was cordoned off after the lunchtime attack in the historic centre of Paris, near Notre-Dame cathedral, and dozens of police and emergency vehicles converged at the scene.

President Emmanuel Macron also visited the police headquarters after the attack. Castener has postponed a planned trip to Greece and Turkey to deal with the incident.

Heitz confirmed that a murder investigation had been launched and that the man's home was being searched.

"People were running everywhere, there was crying everywhere," said Emery Siamandi, an interpreter who was in the building when the attack happened.

"I heard a shot, I gathered it was inside," he told AFP. "Moments later, I saw police officers crying. They were in a panic."