France mobilises 7,000 troops for extra security patrols

Saturday, 14 October 2023 11:00

By Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered 7,000 soldiers to be mobilised for increased security patrols, his office said on Saturday, a day after a teacher was stabbed to death.

France was put on its highest security alert on Friday after a 20-year-old man fatally stabbed a teacher and gravely wounded two other people in an attack at a school in the city of Arras in northern France.

Macron's office said that the soldiers would be mobilised by Monday evening until further notice as part of an ongoing operation that regularly conducts patrols in major city centres and tourist sites.

The security alert comes as France hosts the Rugby World Cup and prepares to face South Africa on Saturday evening in their quarter-final.

More from International News

One killed, dozens injured in clashes during protest in Pakistan

At least one police officer was killed and dozens of people injured in Pakistan as supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan clashed with security forces outside the capital Islamabad on Monday, officials and Khan's party said.
Five killed in plane crash outside Costa Rica capital

A small plane traveling to Costa Rica's capital of San Jose crashed on Monday afternoon, authorities said, killing five of the six passengers on board.
Israel pounds Beirut suburbs as Lebanon says 31 dead nationwide

Israeli strikes pummelled south Beirut on Monday, Lebanese official media said, while health authorities reported 31 people killed across the country, most of them in the south.
Judge dismisses Trump election subversion case

A US judge on Monday dismissed the federal criminal case accusing Donald Trump of attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat after prosecutors moved to drop the case and a second case against the president-elect, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.