ISIS claims it was behind attack on Paris’ Champs- Elysees

The Islamic State claimed responsibility after one police officer was killed Thursday in a rare exchange of gunfire on the famed Champs- Elysees in Paris just days before a crucial presidential election.

Two other officers were seriously wounded in the attack in the tourist area. The gunman was killed by police.

The Islamic State identified the attacker as Abu Yusuf al- Beljiki through its Amaq news agency, according to SITE Intel Group, a U. S.- based organization that monitors terrorists’ activity online.

French President Francois Hollande said he is convinced the circumstances of the Paris shooting point to terrorist act, the Associated Press reported.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told the AP the gunman deliberately targeted police on guard near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station. She said he appeared to act alone.

Interior Ministry spokesman PierreHenry Brandet told BFM television that a man stepped from a car and opened fire on a police vehicle. A witness told Reuters the attacker opened fire with a machine gun.

Security has been high in France ahead of the first round of presidential elections Sunday. A French station hosting a televised event with the 11 candidates briefly interrupted its broadcast to report the shootings, AP reported.

As police blocked off key roadways in the heart of the French capital and told people to avoid the area, the broad avenues leading to the Arc de Triomphe were awash in police vehicles.

Prosecutors opened a terrorism investigation. Two police officers said the attacker had been flagged as an extremist but offered no details. The officers spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.