Terrible attack shakes Arras: teacher killed by young Chechen

In a high school in Arras, France, a tragic incident occurred: a teacher was brutally stabbed to death by a man who stormed in shouting “Allah Akbar”. The assailant, a young twenty-year-old of Chechen origin, was promptly arrested.

This terrible attack resulted in numerous victims, with two individuals in critical condition, as confirmed by the prefect. The Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, has informed that a police operation is ongoing at the Gambetta high school in Arras, where the assailant carried out his act.

The Assailant

Has been identified as Mohamed Mogouchkov, a young Chechen born in 2003 in the Russian Federation. He had previously been flagged by security forces with the categorization ‘fiché S,’ reserved for individuals suspected of having ties to Islamic extremism. It was reported that the young man had attended the Gambetta high school, the scene of this tragic incident. In recent months, French security authorities had expressed growing concerns about the radicalization of young individuals from the North Caucasus.

A video depicting the assault in the Arras school began to circulate rapidly on social networks. The footage, captured by students from the school’s windows, shows the assailant armed with a knife attacking people in the schoolyard. In the video, one can see the young man, dressed in a gray jacket, advancing with determination while some try to stop him with a chair. Furthermore, there is a man who falls to the ground, identified as the vice principal by a student’s voice in the video. The assailant strikes the man on the ground and then proceeds towards other individuals.

Faced with this tragic situation, the French national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has initiated an investigation. Charges such as “murder in connection with a terrorist organization, attempted murder, and terrorist association” have been filed.

The attack shakes Arras. Macron’s Visit to Arras

French President Emmanuel Macron is heading to Arras, in the picturesque Pas de Calais region, where the tragic attack took place. Accompanying him is Education Minister Gabriel Attal. Along with them, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin will also be present.

A Troubling Precedent

Today’s attack at the Arras high school is not the first instance of violence in France perpetrated by individuals of Chechen origin. On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty was tragically killed and decapitated in front of his school, located in a suburb of Paris. This horrific act took place following a classroom discussion on the topic of freedom of expression, during which Paty had shown caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.

The assailant, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee named Abdoullakh Anzorov, was subsequently killed by the police. Investigations revealed that the young man had become radicalized, and a document claiming responsibility for the murder was found on his phone. This document also included a photo of teacher Samuel Paty, who had been the subject of a defamatory campaign on social media in the days leading up to the attack.