Islamic State claim French priest church killing

An undated photo shows the parish of Saint-Etienne. Photo: Diocese de Rouen via Reuters

An undated photo shows the parish of Saint-Etienne. Photo: Diocese de Rouen via Reuters

Published Jul 26, 2016

Share

Paris (dpa) - An 84-year-old priest was killed in a French church Tuesday and another person was seriously injured during a hostage-taking by two assailants. President Francois Hollande said the two claimed to be followers of Islamic State.

Police killed the two assailants not long after the start of the hostage situation, which began at approximately 9:45 am (0745 GMT). The anti-terrorist section of the Paris prosecutor's office took over the investigation.

Special forces had surrounded the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in the north-eastern region of Upper Normandy and shot the attackers as they left the church. Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said police also searched for explosives in and around the church.

Shortly after Hollande's statement, the Islamic State extremist group claimed that the killers were two of its “soldiers.” They made the claim in a statement released via its propaganda arm Aamaq's channels on the Telegram messaging app, similar to recent claims of responsibility by the group.

Aamaq said it came in response to Islamic State's calls for attacks on states taking part in the international coalition fighting it. Earlier this week, a bombing in the German city of Ansbach was the second violent attack claimed by the extremist group within just a few days.

In France, where several largescale attacks over the past 19 months have claimed more than 200 lives, the hostage-taking prompted condemnation and calls not to allow the latest in a string of Islamist-motivated attacks to divide the French people.

“We are confronted by Islamic State, which has declared war on us,” Hollande said. “We must conduct this war by all means, respecting the rights that make us a democracy. What the terrorists want is to divide us.

“It is all French who have been touched. This is why we must remain together, within a unified group, in a bloc that no one is able to break apart,” he added. He said that he would receive the archbishop of Normandy on Tuesday evening, followed by a meeting with leaders from all the religions in France.

The Vatican said Pope Francis had been briefed on the situation.

“The Holy Father is particularly upset by this act of violence which took place inside a church, during a Mass, an act of liturgy which implores God's peace for the world. He asks the Lord to inspire in everybody thoughts of reconciliation and brotherhood in this new ordeal,” the Vatican said in a message sent to the Archbishop of nearby Rouen.

Roeun Archbishop Dominique Lebrun said he would return to his diocese from a trip on Tuesday. Lebrun identified the priest who was killed as 84-year-old Jacques Hamel, and called for peace and prayer.

The president of the Normandy region and centre-right politician, Herve Morin, told broadcaster BFMTV that Hamel was a “beautiful person” who worked in the region for 30 years and “always had a kind word for everyone.”

Some French politicians expressed frustration after the latest attack, with an ongoing polemic raging in France over whether the government had done enough to secure the Riviera city of Nice during Bastille Day celebrations.

On the southern city's seaside promenade, a 31-year-old man born in Tunisia ploughed a delivery truck through the crowd, killing 84 people and injuring 330.

“We are in a period where everything is possible; the worst is possible,” Georges Fenech, a conservative lawmaker who headed the parliamentary inquiry into the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, told BFMTV broadcaster.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he was, “horrified by this barbaric attack at a church in Seine-Maritime. All of France and all Catholics are wounded. We stand together.”

DPA

Related Topics: