Children taken hostage at French pre-school

A sword-wielding teenager took 20 small children and their teacher hostage at a French nursery today.

Fourteen of the children were later released, but six remained inside the Charles Fourier school in the city of Besancon.

The reason behind the 17-year-old boy taking them hostage was not clear.

Other classes in the school were evacuated. Mayor’s aide Jean-Marc Magda said a special police force was sent in from Strasbourg to help local police handle the siege.

The school is in Planoise, a district of housing projects with a big immigrant population on the western edge of Besancon.