A suspected Islamist radical shot and wounded two policemen on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion as they tried to arrest him on Thursday, authorities said.
The attack comes a week after a French policeman was shot and killed and two others wounded on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, just days ahead of the first round of the presidential election.
More than 230 people have been killed in a string of jihadist attacks on the French mainland since January 2015 and the country has been under a state of emergency for nearly a year and a half.
“The man refused to be arrested and fired a rifle at police,” a Government official said, adding that the suspect - in his 20s, who is believed to be a recent convert to Islam - was now in custody.
The lives of the two officers are not in danger and the anti-terrorist department of the Paris prosecutors’ office is investigating the attack.
The man lived with his mother, also in custody, in an apartment in Saint-Benoit, in the island’s east.
Authorities seized several weapons and other material that could be used to make Molotov cocktails, France’s interior and overseas Ministers said in a joint statement. The suspect “is a very discreet man who didn’t seem to have a lot of friends and was never a problem,” a neighbour said.
“We did notice that he had been sporting a beard lately but we didn’t pay much attention to it,” added a young man.
A jehadi network, the first in a French overseas territory, was smashed in Reunion in June 2015. Its leader, a 21-year-old known as “The Egyptian”, was arrested and transferred to Paris.
Authorities in Reunion estimate there are around 100 radicalised Islamists on the island.