French priest killed by attackers 'claiming allegiance to IS'
Online Desk
26 Jul 2016 08:41 AM
A French police officer stands guard by Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall following a hostage-taking at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26, 2016 that left the priest dead. A priest was killed on July 26 when men armed wit
French President Francois Hollande said two assailants who stormed a Normandy church and slit the throat of an elderly Catholic priest on Tuesday had claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, AFP reports.
The hostage drama in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray further stunned a nation already shaken to its core after a massacre in the French Riviera city of Nice less than two weeks ago, which was claimed by IS.
Hollande condemned the "cowardly murder of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to be from Daesh", using an Arabic term for the Islamic State group.
Hollande appealed for "unity" in France, where political blame trading has poisoned the aftermath of the truck attack, the third major strike in the country in 18 months.
"The threat remains very high," said Hollande.
The Paris prosecutor's office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors.
The two attackers stormed the church during morning mass, taking the five people inside hostage, including the priest, interior ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said.
He said the church was surrounded by France's anti-gang brigade the BRI, which specializes in kidnappings, and that "the two assailants came out and were killed by police".
The priest died after his throat was slit, sources close to the investigation told AFP. The archbishop of the nearby city of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, named him as 84-year-old Jacques Hamel.
However the archbishopric's website states he was born in 1930.
