Three soldiers on patrol outside a Jewish community centre in southern France were attacked by a knife-wielding assailant on Tuesday, leaving two of them injured, a police source said.

The attacker was arrested, said the source, adding that the lives of the injured soldiers were not in danger.

One was injured in the arm and the other in the face. Both were being treated by medical personnel at the scene.

Anti-terrorist prosecutors in Paris have taken charge of the investigation, a judicial source told AFP.

The troops were patrolling the Jewish centre as part of reinforced security measures in the wake of jihadist attacks last month in Paris that claimed 17 lives.

One gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, killed four Jewish shoppers in a kosher supermarket during a siege that was eventually brought to an end by crack security forces.

President Francois Hollande has since vowed to combat "unbearable" rising anti-Semitism in France, after figures showed anti-Jewish acts doubled over the past year.