A man has been shot dead after grabbing a soldier's gun at Orly airport in Paris, French officials say.
Advertisement
He was killed by the security forces in a shop after seizing the weapon in the airport's southern terminal.
The airport has been shut down after what the authorities said was an extremely serious incident and passengers not allowed to disembark.
Some French media say the man was involved in an earlier shooting in the north of Paris.
A security operation is continuing at the airport with bomb disposal experts involved and a search for any possible accomplices.
Police say the dead man was not carrying any explosives.
No-one else was hurt in the incident.
Orly - located 13km (8 miles) south of Paris - is the capital's second largest airport.
Police have warned people to stay away from the security cordon put in place and people intending to travel to Orly have been advised to make alternative arrangements as all flights in and out of the airport have been suspended.
Officials say the man approached a group of soldiers patrolling the airport and made off with the gun into a shop.
At that point shots were fired and the man was killed. His motivation is not yet known.
The soldiers were part of Operation Sentinel - involving thousands of soldiers deployed to provide back-up to the police after the Paris attacks of November 2015.
French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux is on his way to the scene of the attack.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that the airport was evacuated soon after the shooting.
"We had queued up to check in for the Tel Aviv flight when we heard three or four shots nearby," Franck Lecam said.
Shooting in north Paris
Police sources say the man was the same as one involved in an earlier incident in the northern suburbs of Paris, where a police officer was shot and injured during a vehicle check. The suspect then escaped in a vehicle.
French media reports said that a car used by the suspect was later found abandoned at the airport.
