France opens anti-terror probe after teacher killed in school knife attack

France has opened an anti-terror probe after a teacher was killed and two other people seriously injured in a knife attack in a school on Friday morning, while Emmanuel Macron said that security services had foiled another attempted attack in another part of France.

Emmanuel Macron has condemned the “barbarity of Islamist terrorism” on a visit to the site of the terror attack at a lycée (high school) in Arras, northern France.

The teacher had “undoubtedly saved many lives” in facing down the attacker, Macron said, calling on France to stay “united” in the face of the attack, adding that a second attack had been prevented in another part of France.

The attacker in Arras was a man in his 20s – reported to be a former pupil – who entered the school armed with several knives on Friday morning. He has been arrested.

A police source told AFP that he shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ during the attack, adding that he was of Chechen origin and had been ‘fiché S‘ – placed on a watchlist for extremism – and was under active surveillance by the French security services.

Anti-terror police confirmed that they are leading the investigation.