Paris, France

French transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari has said that police has killed a man who attacked them with a knife at Paris' Gare du Nord station.

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He had a 30-centimetre (12-inch) knife with the English slogan ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards) written on the blade.

A France Television journalist who was at the train station at the time posted a video of the incident on social media, in which two gunshots can be heard.

"The police used their firearms, thus eliminating all danger, both for themselves and for travellers," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote in a tweet.

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Gare du Nord is one of Europe's biggest train stations and home to international train services connecting to Britain and Belgium.

Worries over violent crime and terrorism are among key concerns for French voters, as people prepare to go to the polls for April's presidential election.

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Security is set to be a crucial theme in the April 2022 presidential election, where President Emmanuel Macron is expected to seek a new term. His main challengers are on the right and far-right.

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Police representatives have for months been calling on the government to ensure better protection for police, who themselves have been under fire over allegations of racism.

Paris police chief Didier Lallement applauded the "courage of the police who reacted calmly to a cowardly attack".

Police union Alliance described the attacker as an "anti-police terrorist" who had targeted the police "with a knife in order to kill them".

"This shows again how the protectors of the Republic risk their lives in the street, outside a church or on a daily patrol in a station."

(With inputs from agencies)