PARIS: After the shocking beheading of a teacher in a north-western Parisian suburb, French President Emmanuel Macron has called this incident an "Islamist terrorist attack".

The victim was a teacher of history and geography, and was reportedly been very vocal with his class about freedom of expression, especially in the context of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad controversially published by Charlie Hebdo in 2015 - which caused an uproar in the Muslim community.

It was alleged that the victim is said to have shown controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his pupils, which to many in the Muslim community can be viewed as being highly insensitive. President Macron stated that the teacher was murdered because "he taught freedom of expression".

After the assailant was killed by the police, Macron added that "they won't win; we will act". The attacker's identity has yet to be released by the authorities, although it has been stated that he was an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin, hailing from Moscow.