Teacher beheaded in Paris suburb after showing cartoons of Prophet Mohammed to class

From the Telegraph  Deutsche Welle and Sky News

A male teacher was decapitated near a school in a Paris suburb on Friday after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class, according to police. A Twitter thread posted last Friday alleged pupils had been shown cartoons of the prophet.

The attacker, who was later shot dead by police, is suspected of bring an Islamic terrorist. He was heard shouting “Allahu Akbar” ahead of the attack, police said. Police saw the suspected attacker carrying a knife near the crime scene, police said. He was then shot dead after allegedly threatening police.

French prosecutors are treating the incident, which took place at around 5pm local time in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, as terrorism.

Friday’s attacker died of injuries sustained when police shot him near the scene, a judiciary source said.

A bomb disposal unit was called in to check whether the presumed assailant was wearing a suicide vest or belt.

Some French reports said the attacker was a parent of one of the pupils. 

The anti-terror prosecutor has launched an inquiry into “murder in relation to a terrorist group” and “membership of a criminal terrorist group”.

Sophie Venetitay, deputy head of the SNES-FSU teacher’s union, said: “He was murdered because he was doing his job, namely teaching critical thought.” She said the victim was a history and geography teacher who was in charge of “moral and civic education. In that capacity, he gave a lesson on the freedom of expression with the Mohammed caricatures,”.