A teacher at a French
preschool who said he had been stabbed by a man shouting "Islamic
State" has admitted he made the story up, prosecutors say.
The teacher said he
had been attacked while alone in a classroom in Aubervilliers, a suburb of
Paris.
But prosecutors said
he had wounded himself with a box cutter and was now being questioned as to why
he lied.
France remains on high
alert following the terror attacks in Paris on 13 November that left 130 people
dead.
The 45-year-old
teacher - who has not been named - has been treated in hospital for superficial
wounds to his side and neck.
According to his
account, a man had attacked him with a box cutter at about 07:10 (06:10 GMT) on
Monday and had shouted: "This is for Daesh [Islamic State]. It's a warning".
The incident sparked a
manhunt in the northern suburb, as police tried to track down the alleged
attacker.
The anti-terrorism
branch of the Paris prosecutor's office also opened an investigation for
attempted murder in relation to a terrorist act.
Earlier on Monday,
Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem visited the scene and vowed to
increase security at French schools.
All classes at the
Jean-Perrin preschool were cancelled.
Mayor of Aubervilliers
Pascal Beaudet said it was not yet known what had motivated the teacher to lie.
He said the teacher
had 20 years' experience and was "appreciated" by parents at the
school.
Last month, the
Islamic State's French-language magazine Dar-al-Islam recently urged followers
to kill teachers in France, describing them as "enemies of Allah" for
teaching secularism.
Rachel Schneider, of
the French primary school teachers' union SNUipp, said many teachers had been
alarmed by the threat.
"We have received
many calls from colleagues, who are very worried," she said.
"They don't
necessarily think there will be an organised attack, but they fear this message
of murderous madness will inspire unstable people to action."
Aubervilliers is in
the Seine-Saint-Denis department of the Ile-de-France region.
