A statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by “two soldiers of the Islamic State” who acted in response to calls to target nations in the USA -led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria.
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Police said that at least one of the two hostage-takers was bearded and was wearing a skullcap of the kind worn by some Muslims.
French President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday (July 26) to wage war against Islamic State (IS) “by every means” within the law after two men linked to the jihadist group killed a priest in a French church.
The United States is condemning in the “strongest possible terms” an attack on a French church that left its 86-year-old priest dead.
Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve rushed to the town, which lies in north-central France about 75 miles northwest of Paris.
This horrific act of violence is only the latest in a recent slew killing across Western Europe, and more specifically, France who, less than two weeks ago, was hit by a deadly terror attack in the city of Nice that claimed 84 lives.
The Archbishop of Rouen identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel and said he was 84, although others sources suggest he was born in 1930.
France has been a prime target of the Islamic State group, which regularly calls for supporters to launch attacks against the country.
Police said one person had been arrested in connection with the attack.
The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor’s office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors.
Manuel Valls, France’s prime minister, tweeted: “Horror at the barbaric attack”.
Claude-Albert Seguin, a 68-year-old pensioner, told The Associated Press that he knew the priest who was killed in the attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
“The whole of France and Catholics are wounded”.
“I cry out to God, with all men of good will”.
Three people were rescued unharmed, Brandet said. “And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry”, Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting. They were taken as hostage after the two armed men stormed the church earlier on Tuesday morning.
One police source claimed between four and six people were being held by the assailants in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.
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Le Figaro reported that one of the hostages managed to escape and raised the alarm. “There are still unknowns”, Brandet said. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris.
