Suspected Muslim covert wounds 2 policemen in France´s Reunion island

SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION: A suspected religious extremist 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 attacks by radicals 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 network of religious terrorists, 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.

The local government official said Thursday´s assailant was also "suspected of being radicalised".

France´s police union Unite SGP POLICE FO said it was "deeply shocked and angry after this new attack."

It "shows that policemen are in danger throughout the national territory and not only in certain areas as judges would have us believe," it added.

France remains on high alert as it prepares to choose between centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election on May 7.