Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told BFM television that a man stepped from a auto and opened fire on a police vehicle.
The gunman who killed a French cop on the Champs-Elysees in Paris had served time for armed assaults on law enforcement authorities - and was detained this year for threatening police, then freed, police sources said Friday.
Emerging from an emergency meeting of security officials, Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced a full mobilization of security forces, including elite units, to back up 50,000 police already earmarked to ensure citizens' safety during the election.
It is not certain whether the attack, in which a police officer was shot dead and two seriously injured, was terror-related, but French President Francois Hollande described it as "terrorist in nature".
France has been under an extended state of emergency since the 2015 attacks in Paris, which left 130 people dead.
The claim of responsibility came unusually swiftly for the group, which has been losing territory in Iraq and Syria.
Police and investigators now suspect the identity of the attacker is a 39-year old male with a criminal record who lives in an eastern Parisian suburb.
In a statement from its Amaq news agency, the extremist group gave a pseudonym for the shooter indicating he was Belgian.
Mr Turnbull says regional security would be among the topics he would be discussing with USA vice president Mike Pence in Sydney on Friday. The gunman was killed by police.
Tillerson: Iran deal fails to achieve nuclear-free objective
But the USA must decide next month whether to renew a waiver so that Iran can continue receiving sanctions relief. Since he has come into office, he has continued to blast the deal.
Was it a terror attack?
A helicopter was seen hovering over the scene of the shooting as authorities searched the home of the gunman in the east of Paris.
Security in Paris was increased this week ahead of the French presidential election on Sunday.
Another witness identified only as Ines told French broadcaster BFM TV that she heard a shooting, saw a man's body on the ground and the area was quickly evacuated by police.
Coming just days after police said they had thwarted another planned Islamist attack, arresting two men in the southern city of Marseille, Thursday's shooting dominated the final day of election campaigning.
He said: "I thought they were firecrackers".
Cheurfi was detained two months ago after speaking threateningly about the police but released for lack of evidence, according to two police officials, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity. "It's a awful thing that's going on in the world today".
In response to the attack, the three leading candidates in France's presidential race announced the suspension of their scheduled campaign events on Friday.
Said by polls to be running neck-and-neck with Le Pen, he tore into her claims that previous attacks wouldn't have happened under her watch.
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