A man who doused himself with wine and tried to set himself on fire on a train in France is being held by police on a potential terrorism charge.

The man, who identified himself as Syrian, waved a phone showing images of armed combatants, according to an unnamed official, who was not authorised to speak officially about the case.

He was then tackled by a soldier and a police officer, who were both off duty at the time.

The official said the man became angry when a conductor on the train travelling from Lille to Montpellier asked him for a ticket for his journey.

The newspaper Le Progres, which first reported the arrest, said the man was playing a video of Isis fighters on his phone at the time of the incident.

The incident took place on the third anniversary of the terror attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.