Paris attacker was carrying emblem of Islamic State group

French officials say a man armed with a knife was shot to death by officers at a police station in northern Paris.

The man, who was still unidentified as of Thursday afternoon, ran up to police officers guarding the station and showed his weapon, as well as a pouch attached to his jacket that was showing wires. The identity of the individual is not yet known.

The apparent attacker was carrying “a mobile phone and a piece of paper on which the flag of Daesh (IS) was printed, as well as an unequivocal claim handwritten in Arabic”, the Paris prosecutor said. “The investigation is ongoing and is based on suspicion of attempted murder against persons of public authority in relation to a terrorist enterprise”. Officers then shot him dead, the Paris prosecutor said in a statement.

“The man did have a belt, but it was a fake”. A police robot subsequently revealed that he was wearing a phony suicide belt. Public transportation resumed in the area around the police station after two metro lines and some bus services were disrupted following the midday attack. “It’s too soon to talk about a terrorist attack”.

Reports said the assailant could have had a possible accomplice to conduct, on a dare, a strategically-timed attack to correspond with last year’s January 7 attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, almost 200 people in France had been placed under travel restrictions to prevent them joining up with ISIS in Syria or Iraq, Hollande said. He called for heightened vigilance and surveillance to forestall the radicalization of the country’s citizens who have joined or are contemplating joining Islamic militant groups, such as ISIS. Some 240 people had been taken in for questioning in connection with them.