Paris gunman was 'French national'

Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon says the man responsible for the Champs Elysee attack, which claimed the life of a police officer, was a French national.

A French government spokesman says the Paris assailant used a 'war weapon' to fire on officers. (AAP)

The man responsible for a shootout in central Paris on Thursday night was a French national, Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon has told public broadcaster VRT.

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the shooting, in which a French policeman was shot dead, via its Amaq news agency, naming the attacker as Abu Yousif al-Belgiki - "the Belgian" in Arabic.

"The investigation is continuing. What we can confirm, is that the perpetrator was a French national," Jambon told VRT.

In November 2015, when Paris was rocked by near simultaneous gun-and-bomb attacks on entertainment sites, two of the 10 known perpetrators were Belgian citizens and others lived in Belgium.

Meanwhile, French police have taken into custody three family members of the gunman killed in Thursday's shootout the Champs Elysee, a legal source said on Friday.