Teacher killed in knife attack at French secondary school

A teacher has been killed and two other staff members injured in a knife attack at a secondary school in northern France, police have said.

French anti-terror prosecutors announced that they are taking over the police investigation at Gambetta School in the northern city of Arras, 115 miles north of Paris.

A French language teacher died in the attack around 11am on Friday and a sports teacher was stabbed, BFM TV reported.

The suspect, who is believed to be Russian-born and of Chechen origin, has been arrested, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on social media platform X.

Charges including terror-related murder and attempted murder are being investigated, anti-terror prosecutors said.

Police confirmed two teachers and the school’s security guard were injured.

They are a former student of the school, aged in their 20s, a police source reportedly told BFM TV.

It said the attacker’s brother was also arrested and pupils were confined to their classroom.

“We’re all in a state of shock,” said philosophy teacher Martin Doussau, who was chased down by the attacker but managed to escape unharmed after locking himself down in a room.

“He was looking for a history teacher,” Mr Doussau told Reuters. “That’s what leaves me thinking this wasn’t related to a personal problem, or about settling a personal vendetta with a teacher.”

There is “nothing so far” to suggest the attack is linked with the current situation in Israel, French police told Reuters.

A police source also added that the attacker was on the state watchlist, the Fiche S, which contains people known as a potential security risk.

Sliman Hamzi, a police officer who was one of the first on the scene said the suspected attacker, a former student at the school, shouted “Allahu Akbar” — God is great in Arabic.

Mr Hamzi said he was alerted by another officer who was passing in front of the high school and called in.

He “was shouting ‘someone is attacking with a knife’,” Mr Hamzi said.

The officer added that he rushed to the school and saw the victim who died lying on the ground outside the school and the attacker being taken away.

“Colleagues arrived quickly but unfortunately couldn’t save the victim,” he said.

Photographs show that the school has been cordoned off and a forensics team are on site, as well as armed soldiers and firefighters.

President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Arras, which has around 40,000 residents, following the stabbing.

Former president, Francois Hollande, wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Once again, it is a symbol of the [French] Republic, in an establishment of the Republic, that is struck by a terrorist act.

“I send all my thoughts to the victims, their loved ones, the teaching staff and educational staff who are experiencing the unspeakable.”

A vice president of the lower house of parliament, Naima Moutchou, said the National Assembly “expresses its solidarity and thoughts for the victims, their families and the educational community as we learn that a teacher has been killed and several others have been injured.”

Europe 1 reported the suspected attacker was on a watchlist of people known as being a security risk in connection to radical islamism.