Teen Girl Stabbed To Death In France School Knife Attack, Macron Praises Teachers For Restricting Attacker

A teenage girl was killed in a stabbing attack in a school in western France while three other students were injured in the attack. 

The attack took place at Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides school in Nantes on Thursday and the attacker is said to have been arrested after being restricted by a teacher, reported BBC. 

The school has been evacuated, and a significant number of police, emergency services personnel, and army officers have reached the spot. 

Chaos unfolded as the incident took place, with students running through the site and some confined to classrooms after an alarm was sounded around lunchtime. 

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'Want To Hold Children In Our Arms'

The school informed families of the students about the knife attack adding that the students had been immediately held inside the school. 

Subsequently, authorities helped students gradually leave the site from 15:30 local time as some parents waited nearby. 

A father told Reuters they were "waiting to hold them [our children] in our arms" and "help deal with the stress this will have caused".

According to the school website, the institution has around 2,000 students from nursery through high school. 

Students and teachers are being provided psychological assistance and Rue des Épinettes, where the school is located in the east of the city, has been closed off.

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Macron Praises Teachers 

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the casualty and lauded the teachers at the scene. 

"By their intervention, the teachers undoubtedly prevented further tragedies. Their courage commands respect," he wrote on X. 

Prime Minister François Bayrou, meanwhile, urged  "an intensification" of checks for knives in schools.

National and local politicians visited the school following the knife attack. "This tragedy is not a news item, it is a social phenomenon," said Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. 

He added that the "psychological profile" of the suspect was not known.

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