France is now on its highest state of counter-terrorism alert following a deadly attack where a teacher was fatally stabbed and two others seriously wounded, according to the French prime minister. The assailant raised alarm during the assault at a school in Arras, northern France, by crying out “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is greatest.” The knife-wielding man is currently under police custody.
This particular “attack emergency” level of alert is not unfamiliar to the nation, having been previously applied in counter-terror cases. It initiates additional security provisions and allows for public warnings to be dispatched swiftly.
In response to the unfolding situation, 7,000 soldiers were deployed for increased security patrols and the famed Louvre Museum in Paris was shut down. A sudden bomb threat led to the evacuation and temporary closure of the Palace of Versailles on Saturday according to police who revealed the threat was delivered via an anonymous online message.
The violence occurred around 11:00 local time at Gambetta high school and falls under the shadow of escalating tension within France’s extensive Muslim and Jewish communities given the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The connection between these tensions and the attack in Arras was confirmed by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
Identified as the assailant, 20-year-old Russian national Mohamed Mogouchkov, a former student at the school with a history of expressing extremist views, has been recognized as a known entity by the security services for his ties to Islamist extremism. This attack prompted the detainment of several of his family members, including his mother, a sister, his 17-year-old brother, and an uncle.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne orchestrated the urgent security actions following consultations with President Emmanuel Macron who visited the school and expressed vehement condemnation for the “barbarity of Islamist terrorism”.
The victim of the restricted attack was a French language teacher who suffered fatal injuries to the throat and chest. A second educator and a security official, now in intensive hospital care, were also detrimentally wounded during the assault. A cleaner who encountered the attacker was slightly less seriously injured, and thankfully, no children were harmed.
In a display of courage, Macron praised the fallen teacher for his bravery in having “come forward to protect others and without doubt saved many lives.”
Profoundly shaken by the incident, another teacher, Martin Dousseau shared his chilling experience of the attack. Finding himself targeted by Mogouchkov, he recalled the sudden assault on canteen staff and his swift reflex to seek safety through barricading himself in until the police arrived to neutralize the attacker.
France finds itself revisiting dark memories of a similar gruesome incident that occurred nearly three years ago involving the murder and beheading of Samuel Paty, a teacher, at his school just outside of Paris. The killer in that incident was an 18-year-old Russian Muslim refugee, who was killed by police soon after committing the crime.
These isolated incidents are just part of a wider string of Islamist attacks pummeling France in recent years, the worst of which took place in November 2015 when entertainment venues and cafes in Paris fell victim to coordinated bombings and shootings by the Islamic State group, resulting in 130 tragic deaths.
