French Prosecutor Francois Molins said that one of the attackers was identified as Adel Kermiche, a 19-year-old that was known to security services and had been arrested twice for trying to reach Syria to join the Islamic State (IS).
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He had retired aged 75 but helped out when necessary – and was reportedly standing in for the regular priest, Father Auguste Moanda-Phuati, when two men wielding knives burst into the church at 9.43am French time on Tuesday.
President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday to wage war against Daesh “by every means” within the law after two men linked to the terror group killed a priest in a French church.
Of the Normandy attack, Islamic State’s news agency said: “The perpetrators of the Normandy Church attack in France are two soldiers of Islamic State; they executed the operation in response to the calls to target the nations of the Crusader alliance”. (IS) during their attack.
The Paris prosecutor’s office, which oversees investigations involving terrorism, said one person had been detained in relation to the attack, though no details were given regarding identity or location.
Pope Francis has condemned in the strongest terms the attack on the Roman Catholic church.
French lawmakers approved a six-month extension of emergency rule after the July 14 attack while the Socialist government also said it would step up strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The priest was murdered and one of the nuns is still fighting for her life at the hospital.
It was in this mosque that the funeral ceremony was held for Imad Ibn Ziaten, a 30-year-old French paratrooper who was killed on March 11, 2012 by jihadist Mohamed Merah. We will stand together.
As the country still reels and is still on edge after terror attacks in Nice and Paris, a church in northern France turned into a hostage scene.
A special French police unit confronted the attackers as they left the church, shooting them dead, and freeing three hostages, physically unharmed.
The statement echoed claims in other recent attacks in France and neighbouring Germany.
Although IS claimed responsibility for that attack police have not confirmed linkage.
Eulalie Garcia, who works in a beauty parlour on the same road as the church, told reporters he had taught her about Catholicism as a young girl. Rev. Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican, said in a statement that the attack hits particularly hard “because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced, and the barbaric murder of a priest”.
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Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who is also expected to run for the presidency, said both major parties had failed on security.
