New Delhi: In a gruesome incident, a high school teacher who had recently shown students cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which are considered by Muslims as blasphemous, was decapitated by an attacker Friday afternoon.
The accused, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is Greatest”, before the attack. He was shot by police as they tried to arrest him. Later, he succumbed to his injuries.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the incident an “Islamist terrorist attack”, and pledged quick and firm action by his government to combat extremism.
“One of our fellow citizens was murdered today because he was teaching students freedom of expression,” Macron told the media on Friday evening after visiting the middle school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine hours after the attack.
“It is a teacher that this terrorist killed because he wanted to destroy the Republic…destroy the possibility of making our children free citizens,” he added.
Macron stressed that terrorists will not divide France and obscurantism will not win.
“Tonight, it is the Republic that is under attack with the despicable assassination of one of its servants, a teacher,” Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer tweeted.
Former president Francois Hollande denounced “a terrible assassination of a teacher”. Hollande, who saw France rocked by its deadliest terrorist attacks in 2015, stressed that “more than ever, we must be united in the face of barbarism and obscurantism.