French counter-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into an attack that wounded six soldiers in a Paris suburb.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the investigation was opened after the attack in Levallois-Perret.

No one has been specifically named in the investigation yet, but is aimed at pursuing perpetrators on charges of attempted murder of security forces in connection with a terrorist enterprise, the prosecutor's office said.

The move means authorities believe the attack was deliberate and planned with a terrorist motive.

A man has been shot and arrested by elite police officers on a motorway in northern France in the search for the driver.

Police officials said a driver in a dark BMW is on the run after ramming his car into a large group of soldiers in what appeared to be a calculated ambush in a Paris suburb.