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A teacher in France is facing prosecution for sparking a full-blown anti-terrorist alert by making up a story about being stabbed by an ‘Islamic State terrorist’ .

The 45-year-old man, who has not yet been identified, said he was attacked with a box cutter and scissors in a nursery school in the Paris suburbs soon after 7am on Monday.

Senior politicians including ministers were among those who reacted with outrage to the initial reports, saying everything was being done to catch the assailant.

He was interviewed at length following a brief visit to hospital after being ‘rescued’ from the Jean Perrin maternity school in the northern Paris suburb, even claiming that the ‘terrorist’ shouted his support for IS .

(Image: REUTERS)

‘This is for Daesh ’ - an alternative name for Islamic State - were the words used, along with: ‘It’s a warning, this is just the beginning,’ the teacher added.

But judicial police officers soon realised there were huge holes in the teacher’s story. Nobody else had seen the attacker, and there were no obvious knife wounds.

"He is now being questioned at length about why he made information up," said a prosecuting source, who confirmed that wasting police time was a criminal offence which could result in prosecution.

There are also strict anti-discrimination laws in France, which aim to try and stop people stigmatising minority groups, including Muslims.

(Image: REUTERS)

The teacher originally claimed he was slashed in the throat and abdomen by the attacker, who was wearing a balaclava to hide his face, gloves and military boots, as well as white workman’s overalls.

Anti-terrorist magistrates supported by judicial police immediately took over the enquiry, as a manhunt was launched for the attacker - at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

It comes almost a month to the day since Islamic State suicide bombers carrying Kalashnikovs murdered 130 people in cold blood in central Paris.

Since then, a State of Emergency had been declared, with the whole country on a maximum security alert.

France’s education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem originally attended the scene of today’s ‘attack’, saying it was "extremely serious, and unacceptable".

(Image: Google)

She added: "We’re going to continue to reinforce security at schools, so as to reassure teaching staff and parents of pupils."

Ms Vallaud-Belkacem also tweeted: "All my support to the teacher attacked in a school in Aubervilliers, and all the staff. We are by their side."

The November edition of Dar-al-Islam, IS’s French language magazine, called on followers to ‘kill teachers’, saying they were the ‘enemies of Allah’ and ‘in open conflict against the Muslim family’.

There have been dubious reports about ‘Islamic terrorism’ in France that turn out to be anything but.

They are often used for propaganda purposes, to try and make out that people are in constant danger from a homegrown ‘enemy within’.