A gunman riding a scooter shot dead two French soldiers and seriously wounded another in a hail of bullets on a street in the southwestern city of Montauban yesterday, officials said.

The motive was not immediately clear but officials said they believed the shooter had acted alone and described the attack as a 'criminal act'.

It followed a shooting on Sunday in the nearby Toulouse when an off-duty soldier was shot dead by an assailant on a motorcycle.

The Defence Ministry said the three soldiers, from the locally based 17th Parachute Engineering Regiment (RGP), were aged 28, 26 and 24.

After initially announcing the death of the 28-year-old, the ministry retracted the statement and said he had been airlifted to Toulouse for treatement. His life was in danger, the ministry said.

A police source said the two others died on the spot.

Local officials said the shooting took place around 2.10 p.m. on a street not far from the base housing the regiment, which has recently served in Afghanistan.

Officials said the gunman, wearing a helmet with visor, got down from the scooter, fired on the three uniformed soldiers on a street near shops and a bank branch, then got back on and drove off at speed.

Investigators found 15 spent cartridges at the scene, police said.

Authorities launched an extensive search for the gunman involving a large number of police and national gendarmes.

Prosecutors said they were considering a number of possibilities regarding Sunday’s shooting in Toulouse, including that it was the result of a personal dispute.

Toulouse prosecutor Michel Valet said they were asking 'serious questions' about the similarities between the two incidents.