A police source says the man shot dead after attempting to steal a soldier’s gun at Paris Orly Airport was a “radicalised Muslim” known to security services.

According to new information that have been released, the 40-year-old shot at police officers manning a checkpoint in northern Paris before launching the airport attack.

The shooting at the checkpoint came at around 7am local time in Stains, when the attacker was stopped by the police officers. The car stopped in Stains was a Renault Clio, which was later abandoned for a Citroen Picasso hijacked at gunpoint. The car was found at Orly airport.

At the airport he attempted to steal the gun from a female soldier on a counter-terror patrol and he was shot dead.

According to eyewitnesses’ accounts, he was holding a female police officer by the neck while threatening two others.

No one else was injured in the incident at 8.30am local time, which triggered a red alert sent locally via the French government’s Saip terror warning system.

The airport was evacuated as security operations continued. Bomb squads and armed police were sent into the building to sweep for explosives.

The air traffic was suspended at Orly airport’s south and west terminals as operations continued.

France remains on high alert following a string of terror attacks directed and inspired by Isis.