Big story in France: A German tourist is killed and two others injured in Paris, Macron says it was a terrorist attack.

One man has died, and two others have been wounded by a knife and a hammer attack on a street in downtown Paris.

The attack occurred at Quai de Grenelle, near the Eiffel Tower, shortly before 9:00 local time Saturday.

A 26-year-old French national known for security services has been arrested and antiterrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation.

Officials confirmed the slain person was a German national, reports the BBC, broadcast Express.

France's Interior Minister Gerald Darman said that the victim, born in 1999, was with his wife when she was attacked and stabbed to death.

He said the woman was rescued from the intervention of a taxi driver and that the suspect fled through a nearby bridge across the Seine River.

The man then attacked two other men, striking one in the eye with a hammer, the minister said.

The suspect was later arrested by police on suspicion of assassinations defined in French law as deliberate murder and attempted assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise.

The two injured persons a Frenchman about 60 years old and a foreign tourist were treated by emergency services, and no one was in danger of life.

A police operation was launched around the Bi-Hakiim subway station Saturday evening, and authorities urged people to avoid the area.

Darman said the alleged attacker was heard shouting “Allah Akbar” and told police he was upset because a lot of Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and Palestine”.

He said the suspect served four years in prison after being convicted of planning another attack in 2016 and was on the Watch List of French security services.

The suspect was also known to have suffered from psychiatric disorders, Darman said.

On Saturday, a video was posted on social media in which the suspect criticised the French government and discussed what he described as the murder of innocent Muslims, the AFP news agency reported.

Writing on X, French President Emmanuel Macron sent his condolences to all those affected by the “terrorist attack” and thanked the emergency services for their response.

“National Antiterrorism Procurory will now be responsible to shed light on this so that justice can be decided in the name of the French people”, he said.