Children taken hostage in French pre-school

A 17-year-old armed with swords took about 20 small children and their teacher hostage Monday at a pre-school in eastern France, police and city officials said, AP reported.

Fourteen of the children were later released, but six remain inside the school in the city of Besancon, said a police official. An official with city hall said they were in the Charles Fourier pre-school. The officials were not authorized to be named according to office policy.
The teen's motives are unclear.

The other classes in the school were evacuated. Mayor's aide Jean-Marc Magda said on BFM-TV that the children's families are being offered psychological and medical assistance.

Magda said a special police force was sent in from Strasbourg to help local police handle the standoff.

The school is in Planoise, a neighborhood of housing projects with a big immigrant population on the western edge of Besancon.