He has since been required to wear an electronic bracelet.
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On Tuesday, two attackers stormed a church in St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France, and killed an 84-year-old priest while he was giving morning mass. They seized the priest and the congregation, which was comprised of two nuns and two parishioners.
Pope Francis also expressed his “pain and horror” and said he was appalled by the “barbaric killing”.
Sister Daniele escaped while they were attacking the priest.
A 16-year-old was arrested at his home in the town following the attack.
The two attackers claim to be associated with the Islamic State and one attacker has been monitored by police for over a year, according to the Associated Press.
TWO knifemen who had pledged allegiance to Isis forced two nuns to watch as they filmed themselves slitting the throat of a French priest while they performed “a sort of sermon”, it has emerged. “It was terrible. Jacques was an extraordinary priest”, she told the station. “He knew what was happening”. “It’s a horror”, she said. The men were shot dead by police officers as they emerged from the church.
A statement released by Islamic State this afternoon claimed two of its “soldiers” had carried out the attack.
“What these two people today have done is. shifted the tactical attack to the attack on Rome.an attack on Christianity”, he said.
A source close to the investigation said the attackers were armed with knives, an old pistol which did not work, and a “fake package” that appeared as if it contained explosives.
He is also said to be friends with known jihadi Maxime Hauchard.
The Vatican have condemned the “barbarous killing” of a French priest, saying the attack is worse for happening in a sacred place, according to Reuters. While France is officially secular and church attendance is low, the country has deep Catholic roots.
Tuesday’s attack renewed fears of social and religious tensions in France. Forensic police were combing the site for clues.
An AFP reporter saw police carrying out two raids and at least one person was taken into custody. He said he would return from World Youth Day in Poland and “I will be tonight in my diocese with families and the shocked parish community”.
Hollande called for “unity” in the country and rejected opposition calls to further harden anti-terrorism legislation.
“In the face of this threat that has never been greater in France and Europe, the government is absolutely determined (to defeat) terrorism”, Hollande said in a televised address. “We should be part of a “bloc”, a unity that nobody can divide. the terrorists will stop at nothing if we do not stop them”.
“We must avoid one-upmanship, arguments, conflation, suspicions”, he said.
“This war will be long. Let us together be the last to cry”. “We have to fight this war with every means”. One of the attackers had tried twice to leave for Syria; the second was not identified.
This is the first jihadist attack on a church on French soil since the emergence of IS.
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The July 14 massacre was the third major terror attack in France in little more than 18 months.
