Teacher stabbed to death in France in attack ‘probably’ linked to Israel-Gaza violence
- Suspect Mohammed Moguchkov, who has been arrested, was already under surveillance by authorities as a potential security threat
- France has upped its alert level to the highest position after the attack, which also left three other adults at the school severely wounded
A Chechen-origin man fatally stabbed a teacher and severely wounded three other adults Friday at a school in northeastern France, with authorities suggesting a probable link to the ongoing violence in the Middle East.
The attack, denounced by President Emmanuel Macron as an act of “Islamist terror”, was in the town of Arras which has large Jewish and Muslim populations.
“This school was struck by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism,” Macron said after visiting the school, saying the victim had “probably saved many lives” with his courage in seeking to block the attacker.
Macron said another “attempted attack” in another region had been foiled by security forces.
According to the interior ministry, he was referring to the arrest of a “radicalised” man who was arrested leaving a prayer hall in the Yvelines region of Paris for carrying a prohibited weapon.
