A auto carrying weapons and explosives rammed a police vehicle in an "attempted attack" and then burst into flames on the Champs Elysees in Paris. Investigators, however, found more weapons and explosives inside the vehicle.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the man's auto was carrying weapons and explosives that could have caused the blast.
Collomb said he would present a bill at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to extend the state of emergency from July 15, its current expiration date, until November 1.
No one else was injured, Paris police sources said.
- Last month, a man attacked an officer with a hammer at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, proclaiming, "This is for Syria", Collomb said. Karim Cheurfi, who the Islamic State later claimed as one of its fighters, shot police officers on the boulevard in April, killing one officer and injuring two others.
The man died even though police were able to extricate him from the burning vehicle.
Pierre-Henri Brandet, spokesman for Minister of the Interior, said that it was a deliberate act and that the driver, who had a gun, is dead.
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Collomb said Monday's incident shows that France remains at high risk of a terrorist attack. A source close to the case said the young man had a firearms permit.
Police said that the driver of a Renault Megane passed out a convoy of gendarmerie vehicles before turning and crashing into the lead police van, at which point his auto caught fire. At least 84 people died in a truck attack on a crowd in Nice previous year and similar incidents have occurred in London and Berlin.
The incident "shows once again that the threat level in France is extremely high".
The incident came just two months after a policeman was shot and killed on the world-renowned avenue, three days before the first round of France's presidential election. Paris police said neither gendarmes nor passers-by were injured.
Morcilla, who was in Paris on vacation with his girlfriend, took video of the aftermath of the attack.
France has been under a state of emergency after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks.
But, it called Parisians to avoid the area which is cordoned off.
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