A woman has been decapitated in a suspected terror attack in Nice, French police say.
Three people have died and several others are injured after a knife attack reportedly took place near the Notre Dame church.
Nice's mayor Christian Estrosi tweeted: "Everything suggests a terrorist attack".
He told reporters: "The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained, he is on his way to hospital, he is alive."
#Nice06 est une nouvelle fois touchée dans son coeur par l'islamofascisme que je ne cesse de dénoncer.
J'adresse tout mon soutien et toute ma compassion aux familles des victimes de ce barbare.
Je veux remercier les forces de l'ordre mobilisées et particulièrement la @PMdeNice pic.twitter.com/zgm4UPi1sR— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) October 29, 2020
French President Emmanuel Macron is due to travel to the city later on Thursday.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said a police operation is under way and encouraged people to stay away from the area.
He is holding a crisis meeting into the incident.
French politician Marine Le Pen also spoke of a decapitation having occurred in the attack.
Meanwhile, the French anti-terrorism prosecutor department has been asked to investigate the incident.
The assailant was arrested after the Thursday morning attack and taken to a nearby hospital after being injured during his arrest, a police official told AP.
The suspect was believed to be acting alone, the official said.
The French parliament suspended a debate on new virus restrictions and held a moment of silence for the victims.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex observes a minute silence in tribute to the victims of a knife attack in Nice. Picture by: Lafargue Raphael/ABACA/ABACA/PA ImagesReuters journalists at the scene said police armed with automatic weapons had put up a security cordon around the Notre Dame church, which is on Nice's Jean Medecin Avenue, the city's main shopping thoroughfare.
It comes as the country is under high alert for terrorist attacks following the beheading earlier this month of French middle school teacher Samuel Paty in Paris.
The attacker had said he wanted to punish Mr Paty for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a civics lesson.
It was not immediately clear what the motive was for the Nice attack, or if there was any connection to the cartoons, which Muslims consider to be blasphemous.
Since Mr Paty's killing, French officials - backed by many ordinary citizens - have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons, and the images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the killed teacher.
