Cars were set on fire at a prison in Tarascon in southern France early on Wednesday, justice minister Gerald Darmanin said, as the government tackles a wave of attacks on jails.

Axar.az reports, citing foreign media, on Monday night, vehicles were set alight outside several French prisons and one jail was hit by gunfire, in what Gérald Darmanin described as "terrorist attacks".

Seven prisons have been targeted, in Toulon, Aix-En-Provence, Marseille, Valence and Nîmes in southern France, and in Villepinte and Nanterre, near Paris.

Darmanin suggested the attacks which began on Sunday were a response to the government's crackdown on drug trafficking. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has launched an investigation.