Earlier, two police sources said two men armed with blades had taken several people hostage in a church in France’s northern Normandy region on Tuesday.
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The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, and according to French President Francois Hollande, Tuesday’s was also carried out “in the name of Daesh”, another name for ISIS.
Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said.
Reuters said the Islamic State had “claimed” the attack.
One of the unidentified hostages is said to be “fighting for their life” in a local hospital, The Sun reported.
The interior ministry of France said that the two hostage-takers had been neutralized by the France police.
But a church is a highly symbolic target – Islamic State has specifically called on its followers to attack churches.
The hostage-takers entered the church armed with knives shortly before 10am local time (9am United Kingdom time), said French media sources.
He said that bomb squad officers aided by sniffer dogs had been scouring the church for any possible explosives.
“The investigations are ongoing”.
Priest Alexandre Joly, who knew the slain priest, said “If we are afraid, they have won”. “There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police can not get inside the site”.
“We face a dramatic situation that we have to face up to once again, less than two weeks following the Nice tragedy”. Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen confirmed the identity of the priest as Fr Jacques Hamel. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry …
“We are particularly affected because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place where the love of God is proclaimed, with the barbaric killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful”, the statement read. “The Catholic Church can not take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men”.
Between four and six people were being held by the assailants in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.
“They are two cheeks of the same backside”, he said.
He expressed his sympathies to Catholics, and also met with special forces personnel who responded to the attack. One of the terrorists was on unsupervised release while wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet for a previous terrorist conviction, said The Sun, citing French TV news channel I-Tele.
The three other hostages were rescued by police, The Associated Press reports. He had no information about the second attacker.
“His Holiness Pope Francis assures you of his spiritual closeness and joins in prayer with the suffering of the families and with the pain of the parish and the diocese of Rouen…”
At the Vatican, spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi issued a statement in the pontiff’s name saying that Francis is “particularly shocked because this awful violence took place in a church, in which God’s love is announced, with the barbarous killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful”.
France is on high alert and under a state of emergency following a series of deadly attacks on civilians including the Bastille Day attack which killed 84 people in Nice.
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ISIS has claimed through their Amaq news agency that the church attackers were “two soldiers of the Islamic State”. Sid Ahmed Ghlam had been arrested in April 2015, charged with killing a woman.
