A radicalized man, previously known to the police for theft and drug offences, was shot dead after attacking a soldier earlier on Saturday at Orly airport, south Paris, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.

Identified as Zied Ben Belgacem, the 39-year-old French national tried to grab a Famas assault rifle from a young female solider of the air force who was patrolling the airport as part of the "Sentinelle" security operation, Molins said.

The man and the soldier fell to the ground for a short struggle before two members of the patrol opened fire on him three times, killing him.

The man, already on the watch list of intelligence services for radicalization, showed "determination to go to the end," telling soldiers that he was "here to die... There will be deaths," according to the prosecutor.

The attacker's father, brother and cousin have been placed into custody, he added.

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