An elderly priest had his throat slit in a church in northern France after two men stormed the building and took hostages.
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The slain priest was Jacques Hamel, 84, Archbishop of Rouen Dominique Lebrun said in a statement.
The knifemen launched their assault by taking five people hostage inside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen.
The attackers took hostages during morning mass before being shot dead by French police outside the church.
Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier.
ISIS is claiming responsibility for beheading a French priest in a terrorist attack in Normandy.
The news agency Amaq, which is affiliated with ISIL, said two of its “soldiers” had carried out the attack. (IS) during their attack.
French media named one of the attackers as Adel K. Police were also reported to have raided a local flat.
France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor says one of the men who attacked a Normandy church evaded police twice using relatives’ ID cards in attempts to reach Syria.
“We bring our fears and disappointments, but also our hopes and yearning, our desire to live in a more human, more fraternal and solidarity word”, Dziwisz said in his homily to the pilgrims.
The siege ended when the hostage-takers were “neutralized” at the church in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, police said.
“This war will be long”.
Eyewitnesses told Le Figaro the attackers were armed with knives, one was bearded and one said to wear a chachia, a traditional woollen north African hat.
Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly has called an IS attack on a French church an act of “total war”.
France remains on high alert almost two weeks after Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300.
In a statement, Vatican Spokesman Father Lombardi said, “the Pope has been informed and participates in the sorrow and horror of this absurd violence with a radical condemnation of every form of hate, and prayer for those affected”. He went on to add that both the attackers were “neutralized” and that efforts are on to check for any possible explosives that may have been placed inside the church.
The July 14 massacre was the third major terror attack in France in little more than 18 months.
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It was the latest in a string of deadly terrorist attacks in Europe in the past couple of weeks, including the Bastille Day attack in the French city of Nice and killings in several places in Germany.
