A devastating knife assault at Gambetta High School in Arras, France has resulted in the tragic death of a French language teacher and the serious injury of two individuals, according to officials.
Occurring at approximately 11:00 local time, the assailant, now in police custody, is reported to have connections with radical Islam.
The French anti-terror prosecutor’s office has initiated an investigation into this apparent terrorist attack, delving into charges of “murder” and “attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise.”
Witnesses state the attacker, a man in his 20s and a former student at the school, proclaimed “Allahu Akbar” during the incident.
The brother of the attacker has additionally been detained by authorities. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, is set to visit the crisis-stricken school amidst heightened national tensions and previous incidents of terror within the educational community.
The incident follows almost three years after the barbarous slaying of teacher Samuel Paty in a similarly brutal act near Paris.
Local media quoted one pupil as saying: “We came out of class to go to the canteen, and we saw the guy with two knives attacking the teacher, who had blood on him.
“He tried to calm him down and protect us. He told us to get out, but we didn’t understand. We ran, and others went back upstairs.”
France’s president Emmanuel Macron, French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, and education minister, Gabriel Attal, are set to visit Arras following the incident.
In a post about the stabbing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Darmanin wrote: “A police operation took place at the Gambetta high school in Arras.