French prosecutor says suspect in school stabbing declared allegiance to IS

Children stand by flowers at the entrance to the Gambetta high school, in Arras, northern France where a teacher was killed (Michel Spingler/AP/PA)

France’s anti-terror prosecutor said on Tuesday that a suspected Islamic extremist declared allegiance to the Islamic State group before fatally stabbing a teacher in a school attack last week.

The prosecutor, Jean-Francois Ricard, said in a press conference an audio recording was found by police investigators in the suspect’s phone.

In it, the alleged attacker declared allegiance to the Islamic State and expressed “his hatred of France”.

Mr Ricard took no questions.

The teacher was fatally stabbed in the neck and three other people were injured in the school attack Friday in the northern town of Arras.