French police have arrested a 22-year-old North African Arab descent follower of “radical Islam” on suspicion of stabbing a soldier in Paris.

French soldier Cedric Cordiez, 23, was stabbed in the neck while he was on patrol with two colleagues in the capital on Saturday evening.

The attack in a busy underground shopping and transport hub echoed the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in south London a week ago.

Authorities have not yet established a link between the two cases, however, French officials have claimed that the stabbing could have been inspired by the Woolwich murder.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement: “The suspected perpetrator of the attack on a soldier … in La Defense (business district) was arrested this morning.”

The statement said the man was arrested in the Yvelines, to the west of Paris.

Mr Valls later told iTele television that the suspect was known to police.

Sources close to the investigation said the suspect has been a follower of a “traditionalist even radical Islam for the last three or four years”.

But they urged caution saying the case is still in its early stages and that the the suspect was not known to be a jihadist.

Mr Valls told the French TV channel Canal+ on Monday that police had “serious leads” on the identity of the attacker.

The suspect was reportedly captured praying on video a few minutes prior to the attack. A plastic bag containing a bottle, a knife and rubbish was found nearby.

The injured soldier, meanwhile, was released from a military hospital on Monday and has rejoined his unit, military officials said.

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