PARIS, Dec 13 —Police officers shot dead a man who threatened them with a knife in the Paris business district of La Defense today, police sources said.

A security man had alerted police to the presence of a man armed with a knife in La Defense Square.

The suspect rushed towards the three-men patrol that had gone to check the situation, wielding the knife and shouting: "I am going to kill you”, the sources said.

Seven shots were fired, with two shots hitting the man in the chest and in the thigh. The man carried no identify papers.

Authorities have told people to avoid the area. — Reuters