Police shot dead a man who tried to enter a police station in Paris on Thursday, the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack, The Guardian reported. According to the Paris prosecutor, he had a mobile phone and a sheet of paper bearing the Islamic State flag and claim of responsibility, Reuters reported. However, the terror outfit has not claimed responsibility for the attempted attack so far.

Wielding a knife, he had tried to attack an officer at the station reception and was reportedly wearing a fake suicide vest. He approached the police building near Gare du Nord train station just before midday, nearly one year to the minute since the attack on the offices of the satire magazine. French media cited witnesses saying he had shouted “Allahu Akbar”.

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Soon, bomb disposal teams and anti-terrorism investigators reached the scene. They found a pouch with a wire hanging from it under the coat he had on, but AFP reported that the device “contained no explosives”. Police cordoned off the area, while two schools closed with the children inside as a precaution.

The incident took place as French president François Hollande's Charlie Hebdo anniversary address was winding down elsewhere in the city. Hollande spoke to Parisian police and security services about the fight against terrorism. In his speech, Hollande said nearly 200 people in France had been slapped with travel restrictions since the incident to prevent them joining the Islamic State.

On January 7 last year, 12 people, including eight Charlie Hebdo staff, were victims of the attack at the magazine’s offices in Paris. Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula had claimed responsibility of the attacks, saying it was revenge for the cartoons it published of Prophet Mohammed. As many as 17 people were killed in three days, after a Jewish supermarket and police personnel were also targeted.