Teacher killed, two seriously injured in French school stabbing: Local media claim victim ‘shouted Allahu Akbar’
- PRACTICE: More to follow
A teacher has died and several people have been injured in a knife attack at a high school in northern France, police said.
One of the victims is said to be in critical condition, according to Le Parisien, with reports suggesting that three to five people were stabbed.
The fatal attack unfolded around 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT) at Gambetta High School in the city of Arras.
Eyewitnesses at the scene told French media that the suspect, believed to be in his twenties and a former pupil at the school, shouted ‘Allahu Akhbar’ – the Arabic phrase for ‘God is great’ – as he carried out the attack.
The police have not yet confirmed this. There was no initial indication of a motive for the attack.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced a police operation was underway at the school, adding that the suspect was arrested at the scene, without giving further details. According to a police source, the suspect’s brother was also taken into custody.
French President Emmanuel Macron is now on his way to visit the scene.
French police and firefighters secure the area after a teacher was killed and several people were injured in a knife attack at Lycee Gambetta-Carnot high school in Arras, northern France.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced a police operation was underway at the school, adding that the suspect was arrested at the scene, without giving further details.
Videos of what appears to be the attack shared by students on social media show a man appearing to jump on the victims in the school yard.
One of the victims holds a chair between himself and the attacker to protect himself, but ends up on the ground and suffers several blows.
Students, meanwhile, were barricaded in classrooms and told to stay inside.
This is the latest case in what appears to be a growing problem of knife violence in France.
In June this year, a knife-wielding killer stabbed four children at a lakeside park in the French Alps, attacking at least one in a pram repeatedly.
The attacker, a 31-year-old Christian Syrian refugee with permanent Swedish residency, mentioned his daughter, his wife and Jesus Christ during the attack in the lakeside town of Annecy.
The stabbing follows a series of bomb, gun and knife attacks carried out by Islamic State and al-Qaeda operatives in France dating back to early 2015.
The country’s deadliest ever terror attack occurred in November 2015, when 130 people were killed in Paris after suicide bombers pledging allegiance to ISIS targeted the Stade de France, cafes, restaurants and the Bataclan music venue, killing 90.
Earlier in the year, two Paris-born gunmen linked to al-Qaeda stormed the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, leaving 17 dead inside and three outside.
In July 2016, 86 people were called and more than 400 injured when a 19-tonne truck deliberately rammed into crowds on the seaside promenade in the southern city of Nice.
The terrorist turned out to be a Tunisian immigrant, who was shot dead by the police.
During the same month, two ISIS terrorists killed an 86-year-old Catholic priest during a church service in Normandy.
And in October 2020, three people were stabbed to death by a Tunisian immigrant at the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice.
There have also been frequent knife attacks on law enforcement, leading to the death of police officers on duty.
