An Israeli guard on the perimeter of a farewell airport ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy shot himself dead on Tuesday, causing a security stir but not endangering the visiting leader, police said.

Bodyguards rushed Sarkozy and his wife to their plane and whisked Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres toward armored cars on the tarmac.

"This was in no way an assassination attempt," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, calling the incident a suicide.

The two Israeli leaders later returned to the aircraft to bid the Sarkozys goodbye after it was established that the incident was over and posed no threat. The plane then took off.

Rosenfeld said the guard who shot himself was a paramilitary policeman assigned to a security patrol at the airport.