French teacher made up story of attack by ISIL supporter

The Paris prosecutor's office says a teacher who claimed to have been attacked by a masked assailant invoking the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL) made up the story.

The attack reported Monday by the teacher set off a manhunt in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.

Both the Paris prosecutor's office and the local prosecutor said the teacher was being questioned Monday afternoon.

The 45-year-old teacher said he was stabbed in the side and throat while preparing for his class., a police source said.

The teacher said the alleged attacker was dressed in overalls and a balaclava (ski mask) and arrived without a weapon but grabbed what appeared to be a box cutter that was lying in the classroom as well as a pair of scissors.

Local prosecutors initially said the attacker shouted: "This is Daesh. This is a warning." Daesh is the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

France remains on high alert a month after a wave of shootings and suicide attacks at Paris nightspots killed 130 people and left 350 injured.

The Nov. 13 massacre was the second major attack on French soil in less than a year after 17 people were killed when Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket were targeted in January.

Last month's attacks saw France impose a three-month state of emergency, and led to a Europe-wide manhunt for suspects.

Wire services