Update: Police clear people from area where man was shot, say knifeman had fake explosives vest

Police have cleared hundreds of people from the neighborhood of an attack on a Paris police station amid fears that other assailants could be at large.

A single unidentified attacker was killed by police after threatening them with a knife.

Tensions were high in the Goutte d'Or neighborhood in Paris' 18th arrondissement, a multi-ethnic district not far from the Gare du Nord train station.

Police expanded the security cordon about an hour after the attack, swiftly and roughly clearing out hundreds who had gathered at a subway station and along nearby streets.

Shops were ordered shuttered along neighboring streets.

Two French officials say a man shot dead outside a Paris police station was wearing a fake explosives vest.

The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, said he had wires protruding from his body. They said he has not yet been identified.

One of the officials said the man threatened officers at the police station in northern Paris with a butcher's knife.