Police have seized a man suspected of trying to ram his car into soldiers jogging near their barracks in southeast France, without causing any injuries, according to judicial sources.

The female owner of the car, which was carrying fake number plates, has also been arrested, police said.

Earlier, the man had first hurled abuse in Arabic at a group of soldiers out jogging at around 8am in Varces-Allieres-et-Risset, near Grenoble, and later tried to run down another group returning from a run, said army spokesman Colonel Benoit Brulon.

"The soldiers managed to get up onto the pavement without being hit," Mr Brulon said.

The driver of the Peugeot 208 hatchback, who was accompanied by a woman, then sped off.

Children were briefly confined in local schools in case of a follow-up attack.

The incident sparked fears of a fresh terrorist strike just days after a 25-year-old radicalised gunman killed four people, including a gendarme who took the place of a hostage in a supermarket siege. All four victims of last Friday's attack in the town of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes, were laid to rest on Thursday.