Three diners were airlifted to hospital with severe burns on Sunday night after a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a restaurant in a Paris suburb.

The fire took place in Aubervilliers, in the troubled Seine-Saint-Denis department, to the north of the French capital.

'Three people have been airlifted to hospital by helicopter, while a fourth was treated at the scene,' said an emergency services source.

'The restaurant is part of a five-storey building,'the source added. 'Everything is being done to contai