Policemen are seen inside Colbert de Torcy High School in Sable-sur-Sarthe, western France, after a hostage-taking took place earlier in a classroom and ended peacefully, Thursday March 9, 2006.  (Xinhua/AFP)

PARIS, March 9 (Xinhuanet) -- An unemployed teacher who took 20 students and two adults hostage in a school in western France gavehimself up to police on Thursday, police said, adding that the hostages were all released unharmed.

    The kidnapper, a 33-year-old jobless man who served as a teacher two years ago at this high school, surrendered without violence, police said.

    French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, on a visit to the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, telephoned immediately French national police chief Frederic Gallois to congratulate him and his team on the ending of the hostage drama.

    French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin also congratulated the police who contributed to the release of the 22 hostages takenin a classroom of a state high school in the town of Sable-sur-Sarthe, west of Paris. Enditem