Paris, Dec 23 (IANS): Three persons were killed and three others injured during a shooting on Friday in central Paris, a top official said.

Speaking to the media at the scene of the shooting, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the suspect had two criminal records before, Xinhua news agency reported.

The attacker targeted a Kurdish cultural centre and shot members of the local community. A possible racist motive is being investigated, the BBC reported.

A suspect, aged 69, was quickly arrested and it soon emerged he had been freed from prison recently.

Authorities appealed for people to avoid the area in Strasbourg-Saint Denis in the 10th district of Paris.

The Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDF-K), which runs the centre that was hit, condemned the attack in a short statement.

The suspect was indicted for acts of violence of racist nature with a weapon and premeditation for injuring two with a knife in a migrant camp in east Paris in 2021, Xinhua reported.

According to Beccuau, the anti-terrorist prosecutor's office is assessing if the shooting is of a terrorist nature.

The mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris Alexandra Cordebard said that the suspect opened fire in three places in the street, a community centre, a restaurant, and a hair salon.

The Paris police criminal brigade is questioning the suspect who was arrested immediately after the shooting, BFMTV reported.