The priest died after having his throat slit, sources close to the investigation told AFP.
Advertisement
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.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack “barbaric” and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France.
He said the hostage-takers had been “neutralised” after coming out of the church.
Two armed men with knives took five hostages in the church on Tuesday morning, seizing a priest, two nuns and two worshipers.
Pope Francis has decried the “pain and horror of this absurd violence”, while French politicians have roundly condemned the attack. “Adversity will bring us together”, he added.
But a church is a highly symbolic target – Islamic State has specifically called on its followers to attack churches.
The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor’s office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors.
Just when you thought nothing could shock you anymore comes news of a deadly attack on an elderly priest, while two nuns and several parishioners were taken hostage by “bearded” extremists. Explosives experts are working to check if there are any bombs left at the scene.
The Normandy attack came less than two weeks after a 31-year-old Tunisian, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people.
Lombardi called the attack “more bad news, that adds to a series of violence in these days that have left us upset, creating vast pain and worry”.
The Catholic priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, 86, was killed when two men stormed the church in the northern region of Normandy, Dominique Lebrun, the Archbishop of Rouen, said in a statement posted on the diocese website. However investigators have yet to confirm any links between the attackers and the group.
French President Francois Hollande denounced the “vile terrorist attack” and repeated France’s commitment to combating the Islamic State after recent high-profile attacks against Charlie Hebdo, Paris and elsewhere.
French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were heading to the town.
A police official said one of the attackers was turned back after trying to go to Syria.
Advertisement
At the Vatican, Lombardi issued a statement in the pontiff’s name saying that Francis is “particularly shocked because this terrible 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”.
