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ATTACK: The Louvre

A FRENCH soldier has shot and seriously injured a man who tried to enter the Louvre museum in Paris carrying two backpacks.

A police source told Reuters news agency that the man was armed with a machete and tried to get into an underground shop at the museum at around 10am local time.

Paris' police chief said the attacker was carrying two backpacks and shouted "Allahu akbar" as he went after the soldier in the Carrousel du Louvre area of the museum.

The soldier fired five times, hitting the man in the legs and stomach and seriously injuring him.

Speaking on the incident, France's interior ministry said on Twitter that a serious security incident was under way at the popular attraction, which has been cordoned off.

The soldier was part of Operation Sentinelle, the massive deployment of French military on the streets after the terror attacks in France in 2015 and 2016.

He is understood to have been slightly injured in the attack.

Europe 1 radio station reported that bomb disposal officers were at the scene, but the police chief said the bags did not contain explosives.