France: 9 people were arrested over the beheading of a teacher in Paris
French police sources said that nine people were arrested after a young man suspected of militant tendencies beheaded a teacher on the street in a suburb of Paris on Friday.
Investigators are trying to find out whether the attacker, whom the police wanted to be shot dead after the execution of his crime, acted alone or had accomplices.
The victim, a history teacher, this month showed his students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a national education class on freedom of expression.
French media reported that the perpetrator was 18 years old and of Chechen origins.
Police sources said that four relatives of the attacker, including a minor, were arrested in the hours following the attack in the middle-class neighborhood of Conflans Saint-Honorine.
Police also arrested four during the night, including two parents of students at the College de Bois de Lone school, where the teacher works.
Leaders of the Muslim community condemned the incident, which many public figures consider an attack on the essence of the French state and its values of freedom of belief and expression.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Saturday that France would act with the utmost firmness after this incident.
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