The two men slit the throat of an 86-year-old priest and left another person seriously injured.
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Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters that 19-year-old Adel Kermiche was wearing an electronic surveillance bracelet when he and another attacker slit the throat of a priest in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Tuesday.
As details come to light about the men who killed a priest in an attack on a small-town church in France on Tuesday, it has emerged that at least one of them was well-known to authorities. The attackers held several worshippers hostage but a nun was fortunate enough to escape who later told that the men filmed the atrocity.
According to reports, two hostage takers were killed by the police after they took hostages at a church in Saint Etienne du Douvray.
French President Francois Hollande is traveling along with the Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, where they would be briefed by police.
Tuesday’s deadly assault was carried out by “two soldiers of the Islamic State” who were motivated by calls to attack nations in the US -led coalition to destroy the terror group, according to a statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency. (IS) during their attack. He said the terror alert is still very high and will remain very high, especially now that we’re facing this group he calls Daesh, ISIS, which has declared war.
France has been in a state of emergency since the Paris terrorist attacks in November. France’s neighbor Germany has also been under attack recently. “The Catholic community has been hit, but it is all of the French public which is concerned”, Hollande said.
“We offer our condolences to the family and friends of the murdered priest, Father Jacques Hamel”.
Numerous attacks have had links to Islamist militants.
There have been images threatening attacks on the United Kingdom capital circulating via Telegram, a messaging app used by Islamic terrorists.
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The Vatican in a statement called the incident a “barbarous killing”, saying it was even more heinous because it happened in a sacred place.
