French prosecutors have identified the man accused of attacking a soldier at the Louvre earlier on Friday before being shot and seriously wounded by security forces in what authorities believe was an attempted terrorist attack.

The French prosecutor Francois Molins said late on Friday said the attacker has been identified as a 29-year-old Egyptian who arrived in Paris on January 26 after acquiring a one-month tourist visa in Dubai. Mr Molins said that police were trying to establish whether he acted alone or was following orders.

The man, who was carrying two backpacks, lunged at the soldier with a knife at the entrance to the museum shortly after 10am local time. The soldier shot the attacker five times; police said he was “gravely wounded” but alive.

Though a bomb squad was sent to the scene, police chief Michel Cadot said the backpacks had no explosives.

France has been the target of a number of terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists over the past two years that have left hundreds dead and the country in a state of high alert.