A car was driving into pedestrians and cyclists on France's d'Oléron island off the Atlantic coast, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, and at least nine people were injured before he was arrested, according to local officials.
The 35-year-old suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" (Arabic for "God is Greatest") when arrested by police, the local prosecutor, Arnaud Laraize, told Sud Ouest newspaper.
Local MP Olivier Falorni, however, said the motive for the attack on a quiet island popular with summer tourists remained unknown, saying the suspect was not on France's watchlist of radicalised individuals.
"We're dealing with an individual who lives on the island, and the victims also live on the island," Mr Falorni told reporters in parliament in Paris.
French media said the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office was not in charge of the inquiry at this stage, and that an investigation for attempted murder was for now being handled by the local prosecutor's office in La Rochelle.
At least nine people were injured when the suspect's car hit them in various areas of the island island, the mayor of Dolus-d'Oleron, Thibault Brechkoff, told BFM TV.
Mr Nunez said two of the injured were in intensive care - some French media later said that was the case for four of them.
Charente Libre newspaper said the suspect is French, withoutciting sources.
The suspect also tried to set fire to his car, which contained one or several gas canisters, French media reported.
The far-right National Rally party said one of its parliamentary assistants was among those injured in the incident.
