A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the November 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people.
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French President Francois Hollande said ISIS was behind the attack in northern France, and Prime Minister Manuel Valls called it “a barbaric attack on a church”.
That being said, should we expect that type of men who slit a priest’s throat are well-read on Daesh’s etymology?
The two assailants stormed the church during morning mass, taking the five people inside hostage and slitting the throat of its priest Jacques Hemel, who was in his eighties.
Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected militant in Syria about an attack on a church.
The attack heaped yet more pressure on Hollande to regain control of national security, with France already under a state of emergency 10 months ahead of a presidential election in which he is widely expected to seek a second term.
Mr Karabila said he hoped that interfaith dialogue in his region would not be damaged.
Terrorism investigators have been summoned, he said. We must stand as one in the face of this great threat. “He still felt strong”, said Moanda-Phuati, who, according to French press reports, is Congolese.
The wounded hostage was treated at the scene, and the three other hostages freed, he said. “We have to win that war”, Hollande told the media after the hostage situation was neutralised.
Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Rouen have condemned and mourned the attack. The four other hostages included two nuns and two worshippers according to BFM TV.
Wulfranc said it’s time to end the violence that has shaken France in recent years, adding: “Let us, together, be the last ones to cry”. It said the Pope shared the pain and horror in response to the “absurd violence”.
“What these terrorists want to do is to divide us, and today after the death of this priest I am thinking of all the Catholics of France and expressing my support”, he said. “And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry”, Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland. “The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men”.
The titular parish priest, the Rev. Auguste Moanda-Phuati, told the French broadcaster RTL that Hamel had refused to retire at age 75, as the church allows, because of the shortage of Catholic clergy in France.
France is now on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day – July 14 – that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks a year ago claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. The measure gives police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest.
“We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us”, Hollande said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State group.
Hamel was “very discreet”, said the woman, who came to know him when she took catechism classes with him as a young girl.
French anti-terrorism authorities are looking into the case.
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The French government has strengthened security services since attacks in January and November past year and handed police special powers to conduct raids and detain suspects in their homes under a state of emergency, but has been unable to stop terrorist attacks.
