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Two women were injured after a hammer-wielding man assaulted them while screaming "Allahu Akbar" in France, according to reports.

The attacker, wearing all black, is still on the run, French media reports.

The two assaults happened near Place de Beaune in Chalon-sur-Saône, a town an hour north of Lyon, 15 minutes apart.

One of the two women is believed to have been hit in the back of the head.

Chalon-sur-Saône is in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, in eastern France.

It came hours after a knife-wielding man shouting Islamic State slogans attacked a French soldier carrying out anti-terrorism duties in Paris today.

The assault next to the Chatelet underground station – the largest in Europe – took place soon after 6.30am.

(Image: EPA)

The unidentified man is said to have rushed at a patrol of soldiers wearing combat uniforms and brandishing assault rifles.

"He was restrained, and nobody was injured," said a source investigating the case on Friday morning.

The man was taken to the main Chatelet police station, and now faces a range of terrorist charges.

It is the latest in a long string of attacks on service personnel involved in Operation Sentinelle – an initiative involving 10,000 soldiers and 4,700 gendarmes and police.

They were first deployed in November 2015 following a single night of violence by Islamic State suicide bombers that saw 130 people murdered in the French capital.

