French gendarmes arriving to evacuate the Alencon prison in Conde-sur-Sarthe, north-western France, yesterday as prison guards blocked the entrance to the facility.

This came about two days after a radicalised prison inmate, 27-year-old Michael Chiolo, seriously wounded two guards in a knife attack before being detained in a police raid.

He was apparently given a ceramic knife when his female partner visited the high-security jail, BBC reported on Wednesday.

French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet described the attack as a "terrorist" incident.

Chiolo said he wanted to avenge the death of Strasbourg gunman Cherif Chekatt, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz was quoted as saying by the BBC. Chekatt killed five people near Strasbourg's Christmas market last December.