Shots fired at Canada's National War Memorial
Shots fired at Canada's National War Memorial Shirlee Engel/Twitter

The gunman who launched an attack on the Canadian parliament in Ottawa has fired what is believed to be a second set of shots outside the Chateau Laurier hotel in the Canadian capital.

The hotel is located near Parliament Hill where the first attack, on a Canadian soldier, took place.

It is reported that there were two people in a car which pulled up to Ottawa's War Memorial and shot the soldier.

The soldier was being treated by paramedics and police rushed to the scene. Witnesses told CBC News that the suspected shooter was carrying a rifle.

It is currently unknown whether the two people were working together or if the gunman was forcing the driver under duress.

The Canadian parliament building was reported to be in lockdown following the shooting. Police have cordoned off the area and blocked access to Parliament Hill while Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is reported to have safely left the area.

The attack comes just a day after a 25-year-old Muslim convert was shot dead by police after he killed a Canadian solider and injured a second near Montreal.

Police said the man, Martin Couture Rouleau, had recently become influenced by radical Islam, with friends suggesting he acted in response to an appeal by the Isis (Islamic State) group for jihadi sympathisers across the world to launch 'lone wolf' attacks on westerners "wherever they can be found".

Canada raised the terror threat level in the country from low to medium following the attack.