VILLEURBANNE (EJP)---A 21-year-old man was seriously wounded in an anti-Semitic attacked by two youths, after returning home from a Torah course in a synagogue in Villeurbanne, in southern France, the Jewish Community’s protection service (SPCJ) said.

As he was walking home from the synagogue late Thursday night, the two aggressors, in their twenties, asked their victim’s name.

After hearing his response, the two told him: "you don’t look to be named Antoine, you look Jewish, you are a Jew."

When the victim confirmed he was Jewish, one of the aggressors fired at him with a pellet gun. As he defended himself, he received several shots of butt on the head and body.

The victim was brought to the emergency service of a nearby hospital with serious wounds at the abdomen, head and arm.

The young man is still in shock and remains under observation. The SPCJ immediately went to visit him and stayed with the victim overnight.

Police are investigating to identify and arrest the perpetrators.

A police source quoted by Agence France Presse said  "the tone heightened between the three youths. There was an exchange of blows and two youths of North African origin took out a gun ball and possibly a truncheon."

This aggression caused great emotion in the Jewish community, said Marcel Amsellem, a local leader of CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish organizations.

"There is no doubt about the anti-Semitic character of this attack. It’s extremely serious because they used physical violence with a weapon," he added.

In a statement, the mayor of Villeurbanne “strongly” condemned "this intolerable act."