A young man assaulted a French soldier with a knife today that may have been partially patterned on the recent attack on a British soldier in Woolwich. The soldier survived the attack and his attacker has been arrested.

Witnesses alleged that the assailant was a Muslim of North African origin. The attack is sparking fears of a widespread pattern of such individual knife attacks, motivated by Islamist politics. But, it is too early to know the precise motivations of this attacker.

French officials will need to be vigilant to prevent further attacks, but also to avoid inciting anti-Muslim reprisals by extremist groups in France.

The BBC reports on the attack.