Dubai Telegraph - Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence

EUR -
AED 3.865039
AFN 71.961868
ALL 97.885367
AMD 409.705534
ANG 1.898038
AOA 960.733931
ARS 1055.061215
AUD 1.613881
AWG 1.894109
AZN 1.787029
BAM 1.951539
BBD 2.126437
BDT 125.855234
BGN 1.956342
BHD 0.396578
BIF 3110.579445
BMD 1.052283
BND 1.414399
BOB 7.293078
BRL 6.086683
BSD 1.053191
BTN 88.848028
BWP 14.387453
BYN 3.446543
BYR 20624.740218
BZD 2.122845
CAD 1.469502
CDF 3014.78969
CHF 0.929776
CLF 0.037101
CLP 1023.776253
CNY 7.619996
CNH 7.625593
COP 4626.455438
CRC 534.824751
CUC 1.052283
CUP 27.885491
CVE 110.024795
CZK 25.350861
DJF 187.538784
DKK 7.458788
DOP 63.520417
DZD 140.573397
EGP 52.274979
ERN 15.78424
ETB 131.306162
FJD 2.388363
FKP 0.830585
GBP 0.832524
GEL 2.883571
GGP 0.830585
GHS 16.7185
GIP 0.830585
GMD 74.71233
GNF 9078.051459
GTQ 8.13025
GYD 220.338958
HKD 8.189863
HNL 26.613518
HRK 7.506205
HTG 138.346648
HUF 411.186809
IDR 16734.714279
ILS 3.929639
IMP 0.830585
INR 88.911049
IQD 1379.588093
IRR 44293.214291
ISK 145.520299
JEP 0.830585
JMD 166.933965
JOD 0.746386
JPY 162.676061
KES 136.007134
KGS 91.02957
KHR 4249.68174
KMF 491.94202
KPW 947.053999
KRW 1471.222726
KWD 0.323672
KYD 0.877684
KZT 523.167824
LAK 23125.51255
LBP 94319.785398
LKR 306.411046
LRD 190.622024
LSL 19.101997
LTL 3.107117
LVL 0.636515
LYD 5.138732
MAD 10.521031
MDL 19.167154
MGA 4930.189594
MKD 61.546561
MMK 3417.773046
MNT 3575.656436
MOP 8.443666
MRU 41.866002
MUR 48.839087
MVR 16.268296
MWK 1826.195708
MXN 21.380416
MYR 4.698412
MZN 67.293799
NAD 19.101997
NGN 1768.455747
NIO 38.755022
NOK 11.613586
NPR 142.154623
NZD 1.792324
OMR 0.40513
PAB 1.053101
PEN 3.996674
PGK 4.239684
PHP 62.126243
PKR 292.773138
PLN 4.342422
PYG 8247.914831
QAR 3.840515
RON 4.977085
RSD 117.020141
RUB 106.281009
RWF 1452.315514
SAR 3.95054
SBD 8.79238
SCR 14.332083
SDG 632.944958
SEK 11.610939
SGD 1.413951
SHP 0.830585
SLE 23.75528
SLL 22065.84631
SOS 601.88026
SRD 37.282669
STD 21780.126598
SVC 9.214882
SYP 2643.891613
SZL 19.091139
THB 36.458458
TJS 11.216013
TMT 3.682989
TND 3.324243
TOP 2.464553
TRY 36.27081
TTD 7.130433
TWD 34.270209
TZS 2791.031424
UAH 43.426878
UGX 3886.514989
USD 1.052283
UYU 45.021709
UZS 13526.469111
VES 48.861031
VND 26751.65603
VUV 124.929112
WST 2.937543
XAF 654.521833
XAG 0.033884
XAU 0.000395
XCD 2.843846
XDR 0.801343
XOF 654.521833
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.991742
ZAR 19.064031
ZMK 9471.810193
ZMW 29.146091
ZWL 338.834589
  • RBGPF

    59.6900

    59.69

    +100%

  • CMSC

    -0.0450

    24.52

    -0.18%

  • CMSD

    -0.0836

    24.26

    -0.34%

  • SCS

    -0.0200

    13.07

    -0.15%

  • BCE

    -0.3100

    27

    -1.15%

  • NGG

    -0.3100

    63.27

    -0.49%

  • RELX

    -0.1800

    45.11

    -0.4%

  • VOD

    0.0200

    8.94

    +0.22%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0800

    6.61

    -1.21%

  • BCC

    -0.7700

    137.41

    -0.56%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.23

    -0.23%

  • RIO

    -0.0400

    62.39

    -0.06%

  • GSK

    -0.1100

    33.35

    -0.33%

  • BP

    -0.0100

    29.08

    -0.03%

  • BTI

    0.1500

    37.08

    +0.4%

  • AZN

    -0.6000

    63.2

    -0.95%

Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence
Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence / Photo: Ludovic MARIN - POOL/AFP

Teacher slain in French school, 'probably' tied to Gaza violence

A Chechen-origin man fatally stabbed a teacher and severely wounded three other adults Friday at a school in northeastern France, with authorities suggesting a probable link to the ongoing violence in the Middle East.

Text size:

The attack, denounced by President Emmanuel Macron as an act of "Islamist terror", was in the town of Arras which has large Jewish and Muslim populations.

"This school was struck by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism," Macron said after visiting the school, saying the victim had "probably saved many lives" with his courage in seeking to block the attacker.

Macron said another "attempted attack" in another region had been foiled by security forces.

According to the interior ministry, he was referring to the arrest of a "radicalised" man who was arrested leaving a prayer hall in the Yvelines region of Paris for carrying a prohibited weapon.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin later said there was "probably a link between what's happening in the Middle East and this incident" in Arras.

France has upped its alert level to the highest position following a crunch security meeting chaired by Macron later Friday, the prime minister's office told AFP.

The suspected attacker, Mohammed Moguchkov, who is in his 20s, was arrested by police.

A total of eight people were in police custody on Friday, a police source said.

In addition to the attacker, several members of his family were arrested "for the purposes of the investigation", including one of his brothers and his sister, other police sources said.

The national anti-terrorist prosecutor announced that it has opened an investigation.

Moguchkov is from Russia's mainly Muslim southern Caucasus region of Chechnya. He was already on a French national register known as "Fiche S" as a potential security threat, a police source told AFP, and under electronic and physical surveillance by France's domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI.

Moguchkov cried the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar!" (God is greatest), according to the preliminary elements of the investigation.

- 'Terrorism has struck' -

The victim, a French teacher, was stabbed in the throat and chest.

Among those wounded were a school security agent who was stabbed multiple times and is fighting for his life, and a teacher in a less serious condition, the source added.

A cleaner was also hurt, anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said.

No pupils at the school were hurt, said another police source.

The attack comes almost three years to the day after the October 16, 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, also by a Chechen, near his school in a Paris suburb.

"Three years after the assassination of Samuel Paty, terrorism has struck a school again and in a context that we all know," Macron said.

Police say Moguchkov's brother, aged 17, was detained close to another school.

- Panic in school -

The pupils and teachers were confined to the school premises before being allowed out later in the afternoon.

A large security cordon was set up around the school, where the police, firefighters and emergency services were deployed, AFP journalists said.

Parents gathered in front of the school, where the pupils were visible through the windows.

A philosophy teacher who witnessed the attack, Martin Dousseau, described a moment of panic during break-time, when the schoolchildren found themselves face-to-face with the armed man.

"He attacked canteen staff. I wanted to go down to intervene, he turned to me, chased me and asked me if I was a history and geography teacher," said Dousseau.

"We barricaded ourselves in, then the police arrived and immobilised him."

France has suffered a series of attacks by Islamist extremists since 2015 including the suicide and gun attacks in November 2015 on targets in Paris claimed by Islamic State (IS) that killed 130 people.

There has been a relative lull in recent years, even as officials have warned that the threat remains.

- Stepped-up-protection -

Macron said in an address to the nation on Thursday that 582 religious and cultural facilities in France were receiving stepped-up police protection after the attack by Hamas on Israel.

Speaking in Arras, he reaffirmed his message from that address for the French to "stand shoulder to shoulder" and "stay united".

Darmanin on Thursday had banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations in France until further notice, on the grounds they "are likely to generate disturbances to public order".

In defiance of his order, several hundred people gathered in central Paris and other French cities late Thursday shouting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli slogans, AFP correspondents said.

Police in Paris used tear gas to disperse the protesters, and said they had arrested 10 out of the some 3,000 people present.

H.Pradhan--DT