Police shot and gravely wounded a man Wednesday after he set fire to the town hall in the western French city of Angouleme, local authorities and police sources said.

Wearing military battledress, the 46-year-old burst into the 19th-century building and poured petrol around a first-floor room where two women aides to local councillors were working.

"He poured petrol in the room, while the aides managed to get out and cry for help, alerting local police," prefect Jerome Harnois told a press conference.

Officers resorted to "using their firearms several times" after failing to subdue the attacker with a truncheon, Harnois added.

A police source said the man was taken to hospital "in very grave condition", adding that he had no criminal record and his motives were unknown.

Angouleme's mayor Xavier Bonnefont said the fire was quickly put out, while Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on the X social media platform that "no-one was hurt apart from the perpetrator".

Harnois said prosecutors had opened an investigation, adding that the attacker was a French citizen.