A man dressed like a ninja attacked and wounded two policewomen with a sword in Cherbourg in northwestern France on Thursday before being shot and cap¬tured, a police spokeswoman said. She said there were no im¬mediate signs that the attack was terrorism-related.

She said the attacker had stolen a vehicle and caused an accident, after which he as¬saulted two policewomen who had been called to the scene, wounding one in the face and the other in the chin.

The assailant — dressed in black in the style of traditional Japanese ninja fighters — was shot three times by the officers and was flown to hospital by helicopter in serious condition. The attack happened at 1445 GMT near a petrol station of the Leclerc supermarket chain.

The name and nationality of the attacker were not immediately known.