About 3000 people were evacuated from Orly airport in Paris after a terror suspect was shot dead early Saturday.

The Guardian reported that the attacker had assaulted a patrol of three air force soldiers and tried to take a gun from one.

He wrestled the officer to the floor abut she held on to her weapon.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the two other soldiers then opened fire to protect their colleague and other passengers at the airport.

The attacker is believed to be a radicalised Muslim who was on a security watch list, officials said.

Police warned people to stay away from the airport and all flights in and out of the facility were suspended.

Other passengers were unable to disembark from flights which had landed and aircraft were diverted to Charles de Gaulle airport.

"We were sitting in Hall Three when all of a sudden people started running and telling us to run with them," Ellie Guttetter, 18, from the US told the BBC. "The people running were passengers and flight attendants. It was pretty chaotic and everyone was panicking - it was scary."

The bomb squad was called in but did not find explosives.