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One person died and two others were injured after a man attacked tourists in central Paris near the Eiffel Tower.

Police arrested the 26-year-old man, a French national, using a Taser stun gun, interior minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters on Saturday night.

The suspect was on the French security services watch list and was also known for having psychiatric disorders, Darmanin added.

The attack took place around 7pm GMT when the man attacked a tourist couple with a knife on the Quai de Grenelle, a few feet away from the Eiffel Tower, killing a German national.

He was then chased by police and attacked two other people with a hammer before being arrested.

“The police have just courageously arrested an assailant attacking passersby in Paris, around the Quai de Grenelle. One deceased person and one injured person treated by the Paris fire brigade. Please avoid the area,” the minister wrote.

The antiterrorism prosecutor’s office has been put in charge of an investigation, Agence France Presse said.

“The assailant was neutralised very quickly by police. We tried to save the life of this man. It’s a man who died and they (the people who were attacked) were tourists,” Dr Patrick Pelloux told BFM TV.

Saturday night’s incident in central Paris occurred less than eight months before the French capital hosts the Olympic Games and could raise questions about security at the global sporting event.

Paris plans an unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine river that may draw as many as 600,000 spectators.

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