Samuel Paty

The French man beheaded in a terror attack near Paris has been named as geography teacher Samuel Paty.

The suspect, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee, was shot dead by police. Nine people have been arrested, including the teenagers' grandfather, parents and 17-year-old brother.

Mr Paty is said to shown his class photographs of Islam's Prophet Muhammed with his class, which lead to threats, police sources said. Islam prohibits images of the prophet, asserting that they lead to idolatry.

French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said an investigation for murder with a suspected terrorist motive had been opened.

Ricard told reporters that the Moscow-born suspect, who had been granted a 10-year residency in France as a refugee in March, was armed with a knife and an airsoft gun, which fires plastic pellets.

His half-sister joined the Islamic State group in Syria in 2014, Ricard said. He didn’t give her name, and it is not clear where she is now.