STRASBOURG, France: Police were deployed on Friday across high schools in the eastern French region of Strasbourg following Internet threats by a young man to stage mass killings and shoot himself, a day after a gruesome suicide at a Paris primary school.

The police also released photographs of the suspect, taken at an Internet cafe from where he posted his threat.

“I live in a certain town where there is a certain high school and on Friday I will leave my mark in history,” the message said. “The lives of many, including mine, will end on this day.” “My uncle has a hunting rifle and I have 'borrowed' his semi-automatic. I know how to use it and use it I will, believe me,” it said.

Officials said 59 high schools in the Strasbourg region had been placed on alert with 750 police officers deployed.

On Thursday, a 50-year-old man with a history of family problems shot himself dead with a sawed-off shotgun in a Paris primary school near the Eiffel Tower, in front of about a dozen stunned children.

Police sources said the man, whose face was partly blown off, had apparently been depressed after separating from his wife in 2009. He had been a longtime resident of the neighbourhood and lived very close to the school.