A suspected Islamist radical 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 after the first round of the presidential election.

More than 230 people have been killed in a string of jihadist attacks 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.