France: Machete attack teenager stabbed Jewish teacher 'in the name of Isis'

A teenager who attacked a Jewish teacher with a machete in France claimed he acted in the name of the Islamic State (Isis/Daesh) group, authorities said. Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin confirmed the stabbing was anti-Semitic and involved some degree of premeditation.

The victim, a 35-year-old teacher at the Franco-Hebraic Institute in the southern city, was on his way to work on 11 January when the boy of Turkish Kurd origins charged him from behind.

The youth, who will turn 16 next week, first slashed the man's shoulder and then went after him as he fled. The teacher eventually fell on to the ground and fought off a second attack using his arms, legs and a holy book, Robin said.

The assailant dropped the weapon and ran away before being caught by police some 10 minutes later. Upon arrest he invoked Allah and IS also telling officers that "the Muslims of France dishonour Islam and the French army protects Jews".

The identities of both the attacker and the victim have not been released. The teacher was wearing a kippah at the time of the assault and suffered from wounds to a shoulder and hand.

The antiterrorism section of the Paris prosecutor's office is leading an investigation into the incident, the third of the kind in the past few months in Marseille. Robin told a press conference the assailant had likely been radicalised online unbeknown to his parents.

He faces charges of aggravated attempted murder due to the victim's religion in relation with a terrorist enterprise, criminal terrorist association and death threats against authorities. The attack came amid high tensions in the country in the wake of the Islamist shootings and bombings that killed 130 people in Paris in November.