French authorities on Wednesday said they foiled an "imminent" terrorist attack on at least one church after a man was arrested in Paris with an arsenal of weapons.

The 24-year-old IT student was only detained on Sunday because he shot himself in the leg, prosecutors said.

The man called for an ambulance, and was found bleeding on a pavement in the 13th arrondissement of the city, the Guardian reported. Police followed a trail of blood to his car, where they found the weapons. Several more weapons were found at the suspect's home.

"Documents were also found and they prove, without any ambiguity, that the individual was preparing an imminent attack, in all probability, against one or two churches," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

The man, who was not identified by police, was said to be an Islamic extremist known to security forces for having expressed a desire to travel to Syria.