A priest has been killed in an attack by two armed men at his church in a suburb of Rouen in northern France.
The attackers entered the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass, taking the priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, 84, and four other people hostage.
Police later surrounded the church and French TV said shots were fired. Both hostage-takers are now dead. President Francois Hollande said the men claimed to be from so-called Islamic State (IS). Speaking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he said the attackers had committed a « cowardly assassination » and France would fight IS « by all means ».
The IS-linked Amaq news agency said « two soldiers of the Islamic State » had carried out the attack. Pope Francis decried the « pain and horror of this absurd violence ».
French interior ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henri Brandet, said one of the hostages had been critically wounded. He said the hostage-takers had been « neutralised » after coming out of the church. Police were now searching the church for explosives.
Treasured Priest
Police sources said it appeared the attackers had slit the priest’s throat with a knife.
The area has been cordoned off and police have told people to stay away. Mr Brandet said the investigation into the incident would be led by anti-terrorism prosecutors. One of the men was known to the French intelligence services, French TV channel M6 has reported.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has expressed his horror at the « barbaric attack ». « The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together, » he wrote on Twitter. The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who was attending a Catholic gathering in Poland, said: « I cry out to God with all men of goodwill. I would invite non-believers to join in the cry. « The Catholic Church cannot take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men. »
After criticisms of police shortcomings over the Nice attack on 14 July, French anti-terrorist police moved with commendable speed to close down this hostage situation in a Norman church. Observers have pointed out that France and other countries are now moving more quickly towards what is called tactical intervention – overwhelming armed force aimed at minimising the period during which terrorists or armed criminals can threaten the public.
The selection of a church by the attackers, whatever their motives turn out to be, crosses a new red line in the grim history of recent attacks on continental Europe. The murder of an 84-year-old priest in this attack will have further inflamed public opinion.
News that one of the attackers was on the French government’s terror watch-list, known as the S list, will prompt many to question its purpose if he can remain at large to carry a knife into a church.
A woman who works at a local beauty parlour, Eulalie Garcia, said she had known the priest since her childhood. « My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him, » she said. « He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn’t like to draw attention to himself. »
There was no immediate word on the identity of the hostage-takers, but France has been on high alert since the Bastille Day attack in Nice earlier this month, when a man ploughed a lorry into celebrating crowds, killing more than 80 people.
The Nice attack was carried out by Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, who was not a known jihadist but so-called Islamic State said he had acted in response to its calls to target civilians in countries that have been attacking it.