Guard is stabbed at French consulate in Saudi Arabia on day of attacks in France amid Islamic anger at Macron over Prophet Mohammed cartoons

A guard was stabbed at a French consulate in Saudi Arabia today, on a day which saw a knifeman murder three people in Nice and a gunman shot dead in Avignon.  

The attacker was arrested after stabbing and injuring the guard with a 'sharp tool' at the French consulate in Jeddah, according to official media. 

France's embassy in Riyadh said the guard was taken to hospital and his life is not in danger, but condemned the 'attack on diplomatic premises which can never be justified'. 

French diplomats also called on Saudi authorities to 'shed light on this attack' and ensure the safety of French people in the kingdom. 

'We call on our colleagues in Saudi Arabia to show maximum vigilance,' the embassy said after Saudi security forces apprehended the suspect, who is said to be a Saudi national in his 40s. 

While no motive was given, the attack comes amid anger at France from across the Islamic world after president Emmanuel Macron staunchly defended the blasphemous Prophet Mohammed cartoons which led to a teacher's beheading. 

Today three people were killed at a church in Nice with two of them thought to have been beheaded by an attacker who repeatedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar'.  

Later on Thursday morning, reports said a man had been shot dead in Avignon after threatening people with a handgun and shouting 'Allahu Akbar'.   

More to follow.  

France and its president Emmanuel Macron have been the focus of anger in the Islamic world in recent days (pictured, a Macron portrait is burned in the West Bank) 

Police said three people had died in Nice after a knife-wielding attacker burst into a church, killed three people and injured several others before being shot and arrested. 

French anti-terror prosecutors have opened an inquiry into what the city's mayor Christian Estrosi called an 'Islamo-fascist attack.' 

Estrosi said the attacker had repeatedly shouted the phrase 'Allahu Akbar', or 'God is the greatest', even after he had been detained by police.  

The mayor said Macron would soon be arriving in Nice and called for churches around the country to be given added security because of the terror threat.   

'The suspected knife attacker was shot by police while being detained, he is on his way to hospital, he is alive,' Estrosi told reporters.

'Enough is enough,' Estrosi said. 'It's time now for France to exonerate itself from the laws of peace in order to definitively wipe out Islamo-fascism from our territory.'

Police armed with automatic weapons had put up a security cordon around the church, while ambulances and fire service vehicles were also at the scene. 

Later on Thursday morning, a man was killed by police after threatening passers-by with a handgun in Montfavet, near the southern city of Avignon.