Paris: A French soldier on Friday shot and gravely wounded a machete-wielding man who yelled "Allahu Akbar" and attacked security forces at the Louvre museum in Paris.
One soldier was injured in the assault.
The knifeman was shot five times and is alive despite his serious injuries.
Two backpacks he was carrying did not contain explosives, city police chief Michel Cadot said.
Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called the attack "terrorist in nature" after the incident which led streets around the world-famous museum to be cordoned off.
"The people who were in the museum -- there were about 250 of them -- were held at a distance and confined in secure areas of the Louvre," Cadot said.
"We will start taking them out in small groups."
France has been hit by a series of militant Islamist attacks over the past two years that have killed more than 230 people and which have been claimed by the militant Islamist group Islamic State.
The most recent deadly attack took place in the southern city of Nice when a man drove a truck into a crowd on the seafront killing 86.
Two potential attacks were thwarted in September including one by a group of women who parked a car containing gas canisters near Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral.
The country is less than three months away from a presidential election in which security and fears of terrorism are among the key issues.
(With Agency inputs)
