Robbers wielding power tools scaled a furniture hoist outside the Louvre to make off with priceless jewellery from the world-renowned museum on Sunday, taking just seven minutes for the brazen, broad-daylight heist, sources and officials said.

The theft -- just the latest to have targeted a French institution in recent months -- saw the museum, the world's most visited and filled with treasures including the Mona Lisa, shut its doors for the day to the busy weekend crowds.

AFP saw a police forensics team arrive and go into the museum, while uniformed soldiers with automatic rifles patrolled the Louvre's famed esplanade, which was cleared of all visitors. Roads around the museum were closed off with police tape.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said three of four thieves had used the furn

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