a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top story: a gun attack on the champs—elysees in central paris leaves one police dead. two more seriously wounded. officials say the gunman, who was shot dead by police, was known to security services. you have to stay back, please. the area is dangerous because of shooting. please stay back. as a massive police operation gathers pace, the so—called islamic state group claims it was behind the attack. french president francois hollande says all signs do point to terrorism. translation: we are convinced the investigations will show that this attack was terrorist in nature. the anti—terrorist group has been deployed and it will leave the enquiry. hello. a major security operation is underway in paris, where a gunman opened fire on a police bus in the heart of the french capital, killing one officer, wounding two others, and a passer—by. it happened on one of the city's

best known streets, the avenue des champs—elysees, which runs between the place charles de gaulle, and the place de la concorde. towards the western end, it's thought, about 300 metres — barely a thousand feet — from the arc de triomphe itself. the gunman drove a car up to the police bus, got out and began firing an automatic weapon, thought to be an assault rifle. officers then shot him dead. media reports suggest he was known to the intelligence services and police have been searching his home in the eastern suburbs of paris. the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, is saying it was behind the shooting, and has named the attacker as a belgian, abu yousif. it is just days before the french vote in the first round of the presidential election. james reynolds reports from paris. in the minutes after the attack, the police in paris took every movement asa police in paris took every movement as a threat. at this stage, officers didn't know if any other gunmen might still be at large. the

shooting happened right in the centre of the city as christians and tourists were heading to dinner. the champs—elysees was already full of police officers, guarding against an attack on civilians. but it seems that this shooting targeted officers, themselves. translation: we are convinced the investigation with, it will reveal the attack is the terrorist nature. —— investigation will reveal. police say the attack occurred just a block away in the champs—elysees. everyone around here wants to know is that they would have on. the police want to make sure that all nearby streets are now safe. officers kept their handguns drawn. they searched eve ryo ne handguns drawn. they searched everyone coming out of a nearby building. i was shocked to make him out of the subway. police in riot

gear approach been put into the side. they would not allow me to go. the country will now investigate the shooting and make sure that its plans for sunday's presidential election are in place. in a brief statement, the paris prosecutor, francois molins, said the gunman had been identified. translation: the identity of the attacker is known, and it has been verified. i won't reveal it, as investigations and searches are already taking place to determine whether or not he had any accomplices. walid haddad was in a cafe facing the george the fifth hotel, just off the champs elysees, when the shooting started. —— george v hotel. i was sitting at a cafe in front of the famous george v hotel in the george v avenue. approximately boo—a00 metres from where the shootings happened.

i was inside, i was indoors. i heard very strong noises and at the beginning i think it was high construction noises, things like that. but i left the cafe three minutes later in order to head to the champs—elysee and i started to see many people quite scared and running in the opposite way of mine. lots of frightened people told me there was shooting everywhere and you definitely have to get out of here. so i started to run on the opposite side. we could see very quickly plenty of police cars, even helicopters, one or two helicopters over the sector with some cameras on the helicopters, so i guess they were still tracking. but the reaction of the police was really fast. we can still hear sirens. javid is still forbidden. as you'd expect, there were some

reports of more gunfire. this clip shows how unnerving it was. banging. shots are being fired — is it gunshots? no. a sudden noise where we were was mistaken for gunfire, —— everybody in. -- everybody in. put the camera away, please. as you heard, it turns out those noises were not gunshots. but it shows how difficult situations like this are for the security services. thomas fessy the security situation in france, just days before the election. there is no doubt that this latest attack is bringing security issues right back to the centre of the presidential campaign. interestingly enough, security issues and

terrorism have not been the focus of these campaigns so far. it has been a lot more talked about economic issues and employment. —— a lot more talk about. you have hard—line candidates, like marine le pen of the national front, who are obviously talking about the security issues and radical islam and migration and terrorism. but it has not been very much the centre of this campaign. with this latest attack, it will be on everybody‘s mine before the vote. security had already been increased around all the candidates in the last few days, because a plan for an attack had been foiled in the southern city of

marseilles. two people were arrested there, apparently planning an attack on either a presidential candidate oi’ on either a presidential candidate ora on either a presidential candidate or a rally. we don't know exactly. an explosive has been found at their apartment. the security forces were able to search their home in the framework of the state of emergency that has been in place for the past two years that has been in place for the past two yea rs in that has been in place for the past two years in france. and obviously, that shows that the security services are very much on alert on that kind of threat. today, that latest attack shows that the threat is very much their, and it may have an impact on the turnout of the vote on sunday, whether people will be fearing to go out and vote, or

whether they will feel that it is safer to stay at home. we have yet to see. thomas fessy there. earlier president trump gave this reaction to what's been happening in paris. our condolences from our country to the people of france. again it's happening, it seems, ijust saw it as i was walking in, it's a terrible thing. it's a very terrible thing that's going on in the world today but it looks like another terrorist attack and what can you say? it just never ends. we have to be strong and we have to be vigilant and i've been saying for long time. daveed gartenstein—ross, a counter—terrorism analyst and senior fellow at the foundation for defense democracies joins us from washington. we don't know if the claim for

credit is credible, yet, but it has the hallmarks of a terrorist attack. and ices have provided enough early information that we should be up to have a good sense as to whether they knew ahead of time. i suspect that if they did, it is likely that they have a statement from the attacker himself that they will be off to push out to other media in the next few days. it is bad enough that anybody died, but there were thousands of people in the champs—elysees, of course, as usual. it is pretty clear that this was a deliberate targeting of people in uniform, as at orly airport, with the attack on the soldier.m uniform, as at orly airport, with the attack on the soldier. if the attack had gone on longer, who knows what would have happened? they could have been a transition to more targeting of tourists or the like. and the odyssey went for the security services from the outset. a number of attacks that have been linked back to ices have targeted

police services. —— isis. we have the charlie hebdo attack. and others. the security services have beenin others. the security services have been ina others. the security services have been in a special target for a variety of reasons. sadly, today was no exception. only one attacker at the scene, david. the police said that an arrest warrant had been issued for a a possible accomplice. this lone—wolf, there is not really much of a thing like that is that? there are, but it is rare. people vote around a lot. when an individual is in contact with an

organisation, it is a good sign is not a lone—wolf attacker. they use encrypted software. isis has taken advantage of this and is in touch with more terrorists than ever before. what does it tell you that an assault rifle had been used, sobbing like a kalashnikov? i know that the french have laws for guns for hunting and so on, but this would not have been a weapon that would not have been a weapon that would have been easy to obtain. does it suggest support? it is that i would look into. i don't know the specifics of the weapons markets in the area. my understanding is that it is difficult to obtain. but sometimes when you look into local weapons markets, you see that some weapons markets, you see that some weapons are easy to get, even if they are not legal, according to the laws of the land. thank you very

much arejoining us. —— laws of the land. thank you very much are joining us. —— for joining us. france has endured a series of attacks in the past three years. the timing of this one is surely significant — just days before the first round of voting in the presidential election. news of the shooting broke as all candidates were taking part in a series of set—piece tv interviews. sarah corker has been looking at reaction to the attack. as news broke of another terror attack in france, all 11 candidates standing for the election were making theirfinal standing for the election were making their final television appearances. as a mark of respect, several candidates have ended their campaigns early. francois fillon paid tribute to the security forces. translation: and what happened the night i want is a first and foremost that we stand by the police. we are faced with that we cannot make sense of, but seems to resemble an act of terror. on the world-famous boulevard, a car pulled up alongside

a police bus, the men got out, and opened fire with an automatic weapon on lease offices. in the pen of the far—right national front treated... —— charlie —— tweeted. jean—luc melenchon released a statement which said... these are sentiments that were echoed by other candidates. translation: tonight, as we are talking, we know at least one police officer has been killed. this thread is incalculable, and is good to be pa rt is incalculable, and is good to be part of our daily lives for years to come. france has been in the state of emergency since a string of terror attacks that began in 2015, and have killed over 230 people. in january 2015, the officers of

charlie hebdo were attacked. in the same year, in november, the bataclan concert hall and a major stadium we re concert hall and a major stadium were attacked, leaving at least 130 people dead. and then there was the lorry attack in nice. this year, and with machetes at hatched —— attacked people with machetes. and just this month, a soldier was killed at orly airport. the nation is on high alert. 50,000 members of the security forces have been deployed for sunday's valet. —— ballot. we'll have more on the paris attack in a moment, and don't forget there's plenty of background and analysis on our website, bbc.com/news. plus the latest developments and pictures and video from the scene. that's all at bbc.com/news. the stars and stripes at half—mast

outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought they would actually go through with it. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and lift—off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. i'm mike embley.

the latest headlines: a gun attack on the champs—elysees in central paris has left one policeman dead and two more seriously wounded. a passerby as well. officials say the lone gunman, who's been killed, was known to security services. a police search is under way at his home near the capital. let's stay with our main news the shooting in paris. professor max abrahms, a terrorism expert from northeastern university joins me now from boston. professor, thanks very much for your time. what are you thinking on this? imean, time. what are you thinking on this? i mean, france clearly doesn't have the terrorism problem under wraps. since charlie hebdo there have been

numerous attacks killing over 200 people in france. and i think that it's interesting because on the one hand we are making a lot of progress against islamic state as an organisation, in iraq and in syria we're organisation, in iraq and in syria we' re really organisation, in iraq and in syria we're really trimming this group down. and yet the more international attacks, the small cells, the islamic state inspired and islam stay to directed attacks, whatever you want to call them, the mr —— spreading of this around the world and in europe, this is clearly a problem not under control clearly and it could be heading worse as the caliphate gets broken up and fighters are encouraged to go home, stay home and commit local attacks. so we may see a paradox where we see a spike in these kind of attacks as the group increasingly is getting defeated in its stronghold. you have

direct knowledge in this case the police acted very fast, they were targeted because they were there protecting people, there were thousands of people on the champs—elysee, none of them were hurt. and only a couple of days ago the intelligence services under uncovered a plan for an attack in marseille, explosives and weapons seized there? that's right, that looked like an imminent attack, bomb—making capabilities were discovered as well as an islamic state flag. there's a french election coming up on thursday and a lot of people think islamic state is particularly mobilised now to strike to somehow add personally affected democracy. so it certainly seems like islamic state tentacles in the french belgian area are electrified right now —— adversely. french belgian area are electrified right now -- adversely. nothing confirmed yet but there are suggestions of links to brussels? that's right. the french authorities

mention that an islamic state itself mention that an islamic state itself mention that an islamic state itself mention that in its credit claim on one of its media networks. it referred to this guy as a belgian fighter, using some sort of non— daguerre locating him from belgium. there's a better relationship between belgium and france. —— a strong relationship. we know previously networks have spanned belgium and france. in a way we are seeing more of the same. many people have criticised this phrase, it comes up have criticised this phrase, it comes up in the media, ifeel we have used it sometimes, lone wolf, lone attacker, but there always seems to be a trial online, a process of radicalisation, in this case the attacker posted his intention to attack police officers on telegram —— trail. does that suggest more needs to be done online to nip this in the bud?|j

suggest more needs to be done online to nip this in the bud? i think we need to do everything. mainly we need to do everything. mainly we need battlefield success. we need to keep hammering this group in its stronghold and that will also interfere with its online game, by convincing people, muslims around the world, the idea of the caliphate is not going to happen. i'm not a big proponent of trying to find them online because they are good online. that's a logical fallacy. online because they are good online. that's a logicalfallacy. we need online because they are good online. that's a logical fallacy. we need to stick to what we are good at, which is using our military and continuing to win. in terms of whether it is a lone wolf, that is an under specified term, in a way there are no pure lone wolves, because eve ryo ne no pure lone wolves, because everyone who commits an attack is radicalised by something. normally that's online and often times they have contacts with other radicals, and in this case i wouldn't be surprised if we find out there is an

unusually tight connection between the organisation and the attacker, and that's because the organisation so and that's because the organisation so quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. this was an unusually quick credit claim, which suggests to me maybe the leadership knew about it before it happened. professor, thank you very much or that. —— for that. earlier my colleague martine croxall spoke to sir peter ricketts who was uk ambassador to france between 2012 and 2016 and began by asking for his reaction to events in paris. well, this does have all the hallmarks of another terrorist attack, doesn't it? it is a deliberate, targeted attack on one of the highest profile streets in france. with thousands of tourists and people around, as they would be on any evening. so this clearly was intended to attract the maximum attention

at a sensitive time in france before the election. how significant, then, is the location? well, it's highly symbolic. you cannot think of a more symbolic french target, i suppose, than the champs—elysees. this was calculated to have maximum impact, and it has had one. some of the eyewitnesses have said that they felt that the police were very much the target, here, when there were of course probably many other people out on the street. as far as we are aware, they were unharmed. so the police were a significant target? initial reports said the vehicle pulled up next to the police fan initial reports said the vehicle pulled up next to the police van and shot at the policemen. of course, there are many police on the champs—elysees at any time. so yes, there are a lot of enquiries to be done, but it looks like a targeted attack on the police force in france. you were the ambassador in paris during some very tumultuous times.

there has really been a state of emergency in place for some time. what more can the french authorities do in terms of providing more security? i don't think much more. they were planning on an extra 50,000 security forces on the street before the elections on sunday. the experience in paris from the bataclan attacks a year and a half ago, people were determined not to let the terrorists change their intentions. i think that the response will be on determined not to be cowed by the attack. so this shows that france is at a very high—level of threat at the moment especially after the arrest of two jihadists in marseille a couple of days ago.

let's stay with the pictures from the french capital, let's bring you up the french capital, let's bring you up to date. a major anti—terrorist operation is under way in france. a gunman opened fire in paris on a police bus in the heart of the french capital. one officer killed, two others wounded, quite seriously we understand, a passerby also hurt. the attacker then shot dead by police. all this on one of the city's best—known streets, known around the world, the champs—elysee. the driver drove a car up to the bus, got out, thought to have been an assault rifle that he fired, media reports suggest he is known to the intelligence services. in the eastern suburbs of paris police are searching his home. the islamic state say they are behind the shooting. just days before the first round of the french presidential

election. that's it for now. much more to come. hello. if you think we're done with winter weather, think again. it'll turn colder for a time next week. frost and even some wintry showers around. it is fairly quiet, and i say that because we have rain affecting scotland with a strong wind. it will be a mild start for much of the uk and where we would like rain for england, wales, into the channel islands that have been very dry, it is looking really dry as the day begins with variable cloud, and bright or so the break. from the thickest cloud in wales, more especially north—west england, northern ireland and south—west scotland, it is damp and drizzly in places, especially on the coast and hills, but more persistent rain across northern scotland. clearing away from the northern isles at this stage, so we have a cold and showery, quite windy, so the showers might have a wintry flavour.

through the day we take take that band of rain in scotland. plenty of cloud in northern england and wales, the odd spot of rain or drizzle. keeping sunny spells east of the pennines, east midlands, east anglia, southern england, often cloudy but some bright or sunny spells and some warmth in the sunshine when it makes an appearance. 18 or even 19 celsius. on through friday evening a lot of dry weather to come going into saturday morning. just this zone of thick cloud, patchy rain or drizzle moving south. to the north of that, cold to start saturday for northern england, especially scotland, with a touch of frost. on through the weekend, no significant change any time soon. that's confined to next week. for the weekend, it will be mainly dry, there'll a lot of cloud around but some bright or sunny spells. close to this weather front, damp or drizzly weather edging its way southwards on saturday. north of that, sunny spells, a few showers into northern scotland. south of that, we're keeping temperatures up.

so, warmth if the sun appears, but it will be a cooler feel for many parts of the uk, especially where you have the breeze. but, as ever, if the sun appears it will feel pleasant. similarly so on sunday, a lot of dry weather in england and wales, for northern ireland until late in the day. but parts of scotland, especially further north, turning windy and wet as the day goes on. looking fairly promising for the london marathon with warmth as the day goes on. but for the start, single figure temperatures. if it is overcast, it is pretty much idealfor the runners. going from sunday to monday, particularly by the time we get to tuesday, the weather change i was talking about, colder air moving south across the uk with strong wind and some of those showers will be turning wintry. the latest headlines from bbc news. my the latest headlines from bbc news. my name is mike embley. one man stories this hour: —— main story. a major anti—terror operation is underway in paris, after a gunman opened fire on a police bus — killing one officer and seriously wounding two others. the attacker was then shot dead by

police. it happened on the champs—elysees. very close to the arc de triomphe itself. the gunmen drove a car after the police bus and started firing an automatic weapon, thought to be an assault rifle. he was known to intelligence services. police have been searching his home in the eastern suburbs of paris. the islamic state group says it carried out the shooting. it is just before the french vote in the first round of the presidential election. now, thursday in parliament.