Paris, Apr 5 (IANS): French authorities have launched a terror probe into a knife attack that left two dead and several injured earlier in the country's southeastern region.

At around 11 a.m. on Saturday, the suspect attacked several people with a knife in the street and in shops in Romans-sur-Isere, a city some 100 km south of Lyon, reports Xinhua news agency.

At the moment of his arrest, the man of Sudanese origin was kneeling and praying in Arabic, according to reports in French media.

"The initial investigations have revealed a murderous course determined to seriously disturb public order by intimidation or terror," the national counter-terrorism prosecutor's office said on Saturday.

It added that during a search of the suspect's home, "handwritten documents with religious overtones, in which the author of the lines complains in particular of living in a country of unbelievers", were found.

Therefore, the office has opened an investigation, notably for "assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise" and "association with terrorist criminals".