Teacher Killed and Two People Seriously Injured in Knife Attack at French School: Local Media Claims Killer ‘Shouted Allahu Akbar’

A teacher has died and several people have been injured in a knife attack at a high school in northern France. Authorities have launched a terror investigation into the incident.

According to Le Parisien, one of the victims is said to be in critical condition. Between three and five people were reportedly stabbed.

The fatal attack occurred at around 11am local time (10am 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 20s and a former student of the school, shouted “Allahu Akhbar” – the Arabic word for “God is great” – as he carried out the attack.

Police have yet to confirm this, but reported that the suspect was of Chechen origin and was known to authorities because he was included in the national security register.

France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced a police operation at the school, adding that the suspect had been arrested at the scene, without giving further details. According to a police source, the suspect’s brother was also arrested.

French President Emmanuel Macron is now on his way to visit the crime scene.

French police and firefighters secure the area after a teacher was killed and several people injured in a knife attack at the Lycee Gambetta-Carnot high school in Arras, northern France

France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced a police operation at the school, adding that the suspect had been arrested at the scene, without giving further details

Clips of the apparent attack shared by students on social media show a man apparently attacking victims in the school’s courtyard.

One of the victims holds a chair between himself and the attacker to defend himself, but is ultimately thrown to the ground and receives several blows.

Meanwhile, students barricaded themselves in classrooms and were ordered to stay inside.

This is the latest incident in what appears to be a growing problem of knife violence in France.

In June this year, a knifeman stabbed four children in a lakeside park in the French Alps, repeatedly attacking at least one in a stroller.

The attacker, a 31-year-old Christian Syrian refugee with permanent residence in Sweden, mentioned his daughter, his wife and Jesus Christ during the attack in the seaside town of Annecy.

The knife attack followed a series of bomb, gun and knife attacks carried out by Islamic State and al-Qaeda militants in France since early 2015.

The country’s deadliest single terrorist attack ever occurred in November 2015, when 130 people were killed in Paris after suicide bombers pledging allegiance to ISIS attacked the Stade de France, cafes, restaurants and the Bataclan music venue, where 90 people were killed People died.

Earlier this year, two Paris-born gunmen with ties to al-Qaeda broke into the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, leaving 17 dead inside and three dead outside.

In July 2016, 86 people were called out and more than 400 were injured when a 19-ton truck deliberately drove into a crowd on the seafront in the southern city of Nice.

The terrorist turned out to be a Tunisian immigrant who was shot dead by police.

That same month, two IS terrorists murdered 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 were also repeated knife attacks on law enforcement officers, which led to the deaths of police officers.