Arras:

The school in the French city of Arras where a teacher was killed by a radical Islamist had to be evacuated on Monday after a bomb alert. Although there were no classes, the Lycee Gambetta High School was open on Monday for students and staff to pay their respects to the slain teacher Dominique Bernard.

Dominique was killed by 20-year-old Mohammed Moguchkov of Chechen extraction. Apparently, he was on the state watchlist of people with a potential security risk. The bomb alert forced students and teachers to be evacuated from the building. They were taken to safety in the courtyard or a building near the school when the bomb squad arrived.

It was on Friday that the assailant fatally stabbed Dominique after shouting Allahu Akbar or God is Great in Arabic. This happened after Palestinian militant group Hamas called for a Day of Rage as Israeli Defense Forces are getting ready for military action in the Gaza Strip. Students and teachers paid floral tributes to the murdered teacher. Reuters quoted a teacher for students with learning difficulties Celine Cailleret as saying, "The educational community must be united, so it was important to be there. A large part of our school will be there today to pay tribute to a colleague.”

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the attack was linked to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. President Emmanuel Macron said in a message that the nation has been once again hit by the “barbarity of Islamist terrorism”. He added by saying, "We will always counter blind hatred with the inextinguishable thirst to teach. The thirst to learn. The thirst to live freely," he added.
Police have arrested Mohammed and he is being questioned by the authorities. France has also decided to deploy 7,000 soldiers to step up national security.