France raises security threat level after teacher stabbed to death in school terror attack

France has increased its security threat level after a secondary school teacher was stabbed to death in a terrorist attack.

British tourists have also been warned to stay away from the scene, in Arras, a town in northern France, by the UK government's foreign office after the incident.

Three other people were injured by the knifeman, who launched his assault at his former school - Gambetta high school - on Friday morning.

Dominique Bernard, a French language teacher, was identified as the man who had been killed.

The suspect, a Russian man of Chechen decent, thought to be in his 20s, was arrested at around 11am local time (midday BST).

He had been under surveillance by French intelligence services and had been stopped as recently as Thursday.

French anti-terror prosecutors said they were investigating charges including terror-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.

They said they were leading the investigation amid soaring global tensions over the escalating violence in Israel and Gaza after Hamas terrorists launched a fatal, surprise attack on Israel over the weekend.

Israel has vowed to "destroy" Hamas and has cut off energy, food, water, and medicine supplies in Gaza until Israeli hostages are released, with the humanitarian crisis for Gazans worsening. Almost 3,000 people on both sides have died.

President Emmanuel Macron said France had been “hit once again by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism.”

The victim “stepped in and probably saved many lives” but two of the wounded — another teacher and a security guard — were fighting for theirs, according to Macron.

Footage circulating on social media appears to show the knifeman approaching targets in a courtyard outside the school, one of whom tries defending themselves with a chair.

Sliman Hamzi, a police officer who was one of the first on the scene said the suspected attacker, shouted “Allahu Akbar”, meaning God is great in Arabic.

He said he was alerted by another officer who was passing in front of the high school, shouting: "Someone is attacking with a knife."

Mr Hamzi said he rushed to the school and saw the victim lying on the ground outside the school and the attacker being taken away. “Colleagues arrived quickly but unfortunately couldn’t save the victim,” he added.

One teacher at the school is in a critical condition after being stabbed, while a security guard is less seriously wounded, according to local reports.

Police have asked people to avoid the area and to refrain from spreading misinformation online about the attack.

It comes amid heightened tensions around the world over Hamas's surprise attack on southern Israel nearly one week ago.

With Israel launching retaliatory strikes and preparing for an imminent ground offensive in Gaza, the death toll has surpassed 2,900 on both sides.

There have been calls in Muslim nations for mass protests after Friday prayers over Israel’s intense bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas.

There have been some pro-Palestinian demonstrations in France related to events in Israel and Gaza. The French government has banned such demonstrations.

French authorities have increased security around Jewish community sites.

Following the protests and knife attack, the UK government has advised British tourists to stay away from the area and follow the advice of local authorities.

It said on its website "stay aware of your surroundings, stay away from demonstrations and follow the advice of local authorities".

France’s interior Minister on Thursday ordered local authorities to ban all pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the country.

The nation is estimated to have the world’s third-largest Jewish population after Israel and the US, and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

The attack came almost three years after a teacher was beheaded outside a school in suburban Paris.

Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher, was murdered by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin who had become radicalized.

A vice president of the lower house of parliament, Naima Moutchou, said France's National Assembly “expresses its solidarity and thoughts for the victims, their families and the educational community as we learn that a teacher has been killed and several others have been injured".

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