Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” against a history teacher decapitated in a Paris suburb on Friday, urging the nation to stand united against extremism.
The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said.
The suspected attacker was shot to death by police after Friday’s beheading.
The French anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation concerning murder with a suspected terrorist motive, the prosecutor’s office said.
Macron visited the school where the teacher worked in the town of Conflans-Saint-Honorine and met with the staff after the slaying.
He said the attack shouldn’t divide France because that’s what the extremists want.
A police official said the suspect, armed with a knife and an airsoft gun - which fires plastic pellets - was shot dead about 600 metres (yards) from where the male teacher was killed after he failed to respond to orders to put down his arms, and acted in a threatening manner.
The teacher had received threats after opening a discussion “for debate” about the caricatures about 10 days ago, the police official told The Associated Press.
The parent of a student had filed a complaint against the teacher, another police official said, adding that the suspected killer did not have a child at the school.
The suspect's identity was not made public.
AP
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