Police have charged three women with planning to blow up a car packed with gas canisters outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Prosecutors believe the trio were acting on orders by so-called Islamic State to carry out attacks at the famous landmark and the Gare de Lyon railway station.

Shortly after the discovery on September 7, anti-terror police arrested Ines Madani, 19, Sarah Hervouet, 23, and 39-year-old Amel Sakaou in a Paris suburb.

Hervouet allegedly stabbed a policeman in the shoulder while Madani was shot in the leg during the raid.

Police later confirmed they had found five gas cylinders and three bottles of diesel in the car.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins described the women as being part of a terrorist cell, saying it had been "dismantled".

He added: "They were guided by individuals in Syria in the ranks of Islamic State".

Mr Molins also said one of the women detained was engaged to two French extremists - one who slit the throat of a French priest in Normandy - who died after carrying out deadly attacks this year.

At the weekend, a fourth woman, 29-year-old Ornella Gilligman, was also charged in relation to the plot.

A 23-year-old man, engaged to one of the four women, was charged with not reporting a pending terrorist crime to authorities.

France remains on high alert after a string of atrocities over the past two years.