Gunman opens fire in Canada's Parliament building

A gunman shot a Canadian soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, then entered Parliament and shots rang out, police and witnesses said.

People fled Parliament by scrambling down scaffolding erected for renovations, witnesses told the Canadian Press news agency. The top spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Harper was safe and had left Parliament Hill.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police warned people in downtown Ottawa to stay away from windows and rooftops.

Cabinet minister Tony Clement tweeted that at least 30 shots were heard inside the building, where Conservative and Liberal MPs were holding their weekly caucus meetings.

"Shots fired inside centre block during our caucus meeting. I'm safe locked in a office awaiting security." Kyle Seeback, a member of Parliament, tweeted.

Emergency responders are still on the scene and paramedics took the wounded soldier away in an ambulance.

The shooting Wednesday comes two days after a recent convert to Islam killed one Canadian soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run before being gunned down by police.

The suspect had been on the radar of federal investigators, who feared he had jihadist ambitions and seized his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.