In a shocking revelation, it has been reported that the man responsible for the brutal murder of a French schoolteacher last week claimed to be acting on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) group. The 20-year-old Russian hailing from the predominantly Muslim northern Caucasus region, recorded a video prior to the attack expressing his allegiance to ISIS. The video also made a passing reference to the recent attack by Hamas on Israel.
The attack occurred on Friday at a school in Arras, located in northern France, where Moguchkov stabbed the teacher to death. He is scheduled to appear before an investigating magistrate later today to face charges related to the crime.
This incident comes nearly three years after a similar killing of a teacher near Paris, which sent shockwaves through the nation and prompted a significant security response. As a result of Friday’s attack, France has heightened its security level and deployed 7,000 troops across the country.
Adding to the already tense atmosphere, a bomb threat led to the evacuation of the school in Arras on Monday. Fortunately, the threat turned out to be a false alarm.
In light of the recent shooting in Brussels, where two Swedes were attacked by a Tunisian man claiming inspiration from ISIS, President Emmanuel Macron warned that all European states are vulnerable to Islamist terrorism. “We all have a vulnerability. It’s what comes with being a democracy, a rule-of-law state where there are individuals who can decide at a given moment to commit the worst acts,” Macron stated during a press conference in Tirana, Albania.
Despite these troubling incidents, Macron expressed confidence in French security services, stating that he had seen “no failures” leading up to the stabbing in Arras.
At home, Macron has urged his ministers to demonstrate a relentless stance against those who harbour hate and terrorist ideologies. In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), he emphasised that schools must remain a stronghold against extremism, serving as a sanctuary for students and all those who work within their walls.
Macron’s office confirmed that he will attend the funeral of the victim, 57-year-old Dominique Bernard, on Thursday.
Moguchkov, who arrived in France at the age of five, was already on a French national register as a potential security threat and was under surveillance by France’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI. In 2018, his father, who was also on the list, was deported. announced that 193 such cases would be re-examined, with a particular focus on “young men between the ages of 16 and 25 from the Caucasus,” as directed by Macron.
