A person armed with a knife killed a trainer and injured a number of different individuals at a faculty in northern France on Friday, in accordance with officers, who had been treating the episode as a terrorist assault.
The stabbing occurred at a public highschool in Arras, a city of about 42,000 that’s roughly 25 miles southwest of Lille, close to the Belgian border. President Emmanuel Macron’s workplace mentioned he was heading to the scene, and lawmakers in the decrease home of Parliament suspended their work in solidarity with the victims.
Gérald Darmanin, the French inside minister, mentioned {that a} suspect had been arrested and was in police custody.
France’s nationwide antiterrorism prosecutor’s workplace mentioned in an announcement that it had opened an investigation, but it surely didn’t present particulars concerning the suspect or his motivations.
French officers didn’t instantly determine the victims or present particulars about how the assault unfolded.
While assaults on faculties are uncommon in France, this stabbing struck a uncooked nerve in the nation. It occurred virtually three years to the day after Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old historical past trainer who confirmed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class as an example free speech, was beheaded by an Islamist fanatic.
More just lately, a Spanish language trainer at a highschool in the southwest of the nation was stabbed and killed by a 16-year-old pupil, though terrorism was dominated out in that case.
France was struck by large-scale Islamist terrorist assaults in 2015 and 2016, adopted by a string of smaller however nonetheless lethal shootings and stabbings in subsequent years, usually carried out by lone assailants.
The nation stays on excessive alert, and the authorities have mentioned that the police and intelligence providers often foil plots. Mr. Darmanin told the newspaper Ouest-France last month that the authorities had thwarted 42 terrorist assaults since 2017.
This is a creating story. Please verify again for updates.
