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Teacher in France Stabbed by Man Invoking ISIS French Teacher Lied About ISIS Stabbing, Prosecutors Say
(35 minutes later)
PARIS — The French antiterrorism authorities were searching on Monday for a man who invoked the Islamic State as he stabbed a teacher with scissors and a box cutter in a preschool near Paris. PARIS — The French authorities said on Monday that a teacher who claimed to have been stabbed with scissors and a box cutter at a preschool near Paris had fabricated the story.
A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, said that the victim, a 45-year-old male preschool teacher, had described the attacker as saying, “This is Daesh, this is a warning.” Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL. The Paris prosecutor’s office and the local prosecutor said the teacher was being questioned Monday afternoon, The Associated Press reported, after he claimed to have been attacked at the Jean Perrin preschool in Aubervilliers, a suburb north of Paris.
The teacher’s wounds were not life-threatening but he was still in the hospital, Ms. Thibault-Lecuivre said, adding that the Paris prosecutor had opened a preliminary investigation for attempted murder. A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, said earlier in the day that the victim, a 45-year-old male preschool teacher, had described the attacker as saying, “This is Daesh, this is a warning.” Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Neither the assailant nor his victim were identified, and the attacker, whose possible connection to the Islamic State has not been established, remains at large. The teacher, who has not been identified, said the assailant was wearing a balaclava and gloves, and that he had then fled.
Philippe Galli, the top government official for the Seine-St.-Denis administrative department, told reporters on the scene that it was too early to say what might have motivated the attack, which occurred Monday morning at the Jean Perrin preschool in Aubervilliers, a northern suburb of Paris. The authorities took the teacher’s claim seriously, beginning a manhunt for the assailant as the Paris prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation for attempted murder.
Mr. Galli said the assailant entered the preschool around 7:10 a.m. and attacked the teacher in his classroom with the box cutter and a pair of scissors that he had found on the school premises. No other teachers or children were present at the time, Mr. Galli said. The teacher’s wounds were not life-threatening but he was still in the hospital, Ms. Thibault-Lecuivre said, before it was revealed that the attack appeared to be a hoax.
The attacker, who was wearing a balaclava and gloves, fled the school after the assault. Based on information provided by the teacher, the top government official for the Seine-St.-Denis administrative department, Philippe Galli, told reporters that the assailant had entered the preschool around 7:10 a.m. and had attacked the teacher in his classroom with the box cutter and a pair of scissors that he had found on the school premises. The teacher had said that no children or other members of staff had been present at the time, Mr. Galli said.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the French education minister, said that the authorities closed the preschool after the attack, but that it would reopen on Tuesday. She said that the government would continue to bolster security in schools. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the French education minister, said that the authorities closed the preschool in response to news that there had been an attack, but that it would reopen on Tuesday. She said that the government would continue to bolster security in schools.
France has been under a state of emergency since a series of coordinated attacks in and around Paris last month left 130 dead and more than 350 wounded. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the assaults, which involved several teams of gunmen and suicide bombers.France has been under a state of emergency since a series of coordinated attacks in and around Paris last month left 130 dead and more than 350 wounded. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the assaults, which involved several teams of gunmen and suicide bombers.
An Islamic State publication in French, released in late November, encouraged its readers to kill teachers, accusing the French education system of cultivating “ignorance and moral corruption” in children and of indoctrinating them with secularism and democratic values.
A knife attack in the London subway on Dec. 5 is being treated by the British authorities as a “terrorist incident.”