PARIS — A teacher was stabbed by a masked attacker at a preschool in a Paris suburb early Monday in an incident that is being investigated by anti-terrorism police, officials said.
The male teacher was alone and preparing for class when the assailant entered, seized a pair of scissors and a box cutter from a table of school supplies, and slashed him in the stomach and neck before fleeing, a teachers’ union leader told NBC News.
The motive remained unclear, but local media reported that the attacker shouted: "This is [ISIS], this is a warning."
It comes just a month after the Nov. 13 ISIS-linked shootings and bombings in the French capital that left 130 people dead.
Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem promised to ensure security at schools around the country, describing the attack as “an act of great gravity.”
The victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries, according to local media reports.
French police confirmed the attack to NBC News and said it was in the hands of anti-terrorism investigators in Bobigny, north of Paris.
Christian Chevalier, secretary-general of the French Teachers National Autonomous Union (SE-UNSA), said the attack happened shortly after 7 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET).
He said that the school, which is located in the northern suburb of Aubervilliers, would reopen Tuesday.
