Normandy church attackers claimed allegiance to ISIS, says Hollande

French president François Hollande has suggested that Islamic State is behind the attack on a northern French church in which a priest was killed.

The two assailants killed the 84-year-old with a blade and were shot dead following a hostage situation at a church in Normandy.

Two men armed with knives burst into the Catholic church in Saint-Etienne du Rouvray, in the southern suburbs of Rouen, during morning Mass on Tuesday. They took five hostages: the priest, two nuns and two parishoners. A third nun escaped and raised the alert.

The Rapid Intervention Brigade (BRI) arrived within minutes from Rouen, surrounded the church and closed off the area. The hostage-takers came out of the church and were shot dead in the forecourt.

When the commandos entered the church, they found the priest dead with his throat cut. Another hostage was critically wounded.

The church was swept for explosives. President Hollande and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited to the scene to congratulate the security forces and comfort the community. The population of Saint-Etienne de Rouvray is 27,000.

The French president has said the two attackers claimed allegiance to Islamic State.

The Vatican condemned the “barbarous killing”, saying Pope Francis was horrified by the news. “We are particularly shocked because this horrible violence took place in a church, in which God’s love is announced,” Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said.

He said the pope was feeling “the pain and horror of this absurd violence” and “condemned in the most radical way any form of hate”.

Claim of responsibility

There has not yet been a claim of responsibility for the attack, nor have the assailants been identified. But a church is a highly symbolic target – Islamic State has specifically called on its followers to attack churches.

Relations with France’s Muslim community have been especially tense since the Bastille Day massacre in Nice.

The anti-terrorist prosecutor has been assigned to the case.

In April 2015, Sid-Ahmed Glam planned to bomb a church in Villejuif, outside Paris. He murdered a young woman after commandeering her car and shot himself in the foot. News reports linked Glam with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Islamic State operative who is believed to have planned the November 13th, 2015 attacks in Paris.

Since the present spate of jihadist attacks began in 2012, this is believed to be the first violence against a church or priest. Seven French monks from the monastery at Tibherine, Algeria, were beheaded, probably by the Armed Islamic Group, in the spring of 1996.

Source : Irish Times