Daesh claims responsibility for Paris attack

Washington: Daesh has claimed responsibility for a deadly knife attack carried out in central Paris late Saturday, according to the SITE monitoring group.

"The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Paris is a soldier of the Daesh and the operation was carried out in response to the calls to target the coalition states," a "security source" told Daesh´s official Amaq news agency in an Arabic-language report.

The knifeman was shot dead by police after he killed one person and injured four, prompting a terror probe.

The attack took place near the city´s main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theaters which were brimming on a weekend night.

The man attacked five people with a knife, one of whom died, police said. Two were in serious condition and all the victims are in hospital.

The attack comes as France is under a constant threat from terrorism. A string of militant attacks have claimed the lives of over 245 people around France in the past three years.