French priest, 85, slain in attack claimed by ISIS

French President Francois Hollande speaks with emergency services personnel Tuesday after arriving at the scene of a church attack in France’s Normandy region.
French President Francois Hollande speaks with emergency services personnel Tuesday after arriving at the scene of a church attack in France’s Normandy region.

SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France -- Two attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest celebrating Mass in a French church, killing him and gravely injuring one of the few worshippers present before the two were shot to death by police.

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AP

French officers search outside a church Tuesday in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy, where two attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest during Mass and injured a worshipper before they were killed by police. A nun who got away said the men “did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic,” and recorded themselves. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.

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AP/Diocese of Rouen

This is an undated image of French Priest Jacques Hamel made available Tuesday by the Catholic Diocese if Rouen in France.

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AP

Police officers stand in front of a building Tuesday during a search operation in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead.

A nun who escaped said she saw the attackers take a video of themselves and "give a sermon in Arabic" around the altar.

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police rescued three people inside the church -- including a second nun -- in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, said Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet.

A regional Muslim leader said one of the two attackers was known to police, and a police official said he had tried to go to Syria. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of the investigation, said the man was under police supervision and wore an electronic bracelet to monitor his movements.

A statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State" who acted in response to calls to target nations in the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

The statement echoed claims in other recent attacks in France and neighboring Germany. It repeated its threat to Western "crusaders."

A special intervention force carried out a search for possible explosives in or around the church.

"The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns," Brandet said. "There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services" at the church outside the city of Rouen, the capital of France's Normandy region.

A nun who was in the church said the Rev. Jacques Hamel was forced to the ground before his throat was slit. The nun, identified as Sister Danielle, told BFM television: "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened."

She said the attackers recorded themselves.

"They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror," she said.

Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed Hamel's death.

"I cry out to God, with all men of goodwill. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry," Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland. "The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men."

The priest "was always ready to help," said Rouen diocese official Philippe Maheut. He said Hamel had been at the church for the past decade.

"Sometimes he was running all around, and his desire was to spread a message for which he consecrated his life," Maheut said. "And he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating a Mass, which is a message of love."

French President Francois Hollande, arriving on the scene, called it a "vile terrorist attack" and one more sign that France is at war with the Islamic State group.

"We must lead this war with all our means," he said, adding that he was calling a meeting today of representatives of all religions.

He expressed solidarity with Catholics, saying "they have been terribly hit by the killing of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to belong to Daesh. I have met with the family of the priest."

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

The town's mayor, Hubert Wulfranc, in tears, denounced the "barbarism" and pleaded, "Let us together be the last to cry."

Mohammed Karabila, head of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandie, said French security services knew the name of one of the attackers.

"The person who committed this odious act is known and he has been followed by the police for at least 1½ years. He went to Turkey and security services were alerted after this," he said by phone. He refused to divulge the man's name and had no information on the second attacker.

The pope condemned the attack in the strongest terms. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement that Pope Francis expressed his "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred, and prayer for those affected."

France is on high alert and under a state of emergency after an attack in the southern city of Nice on Bastille Day -- July 14 -- that killed 84 people that was claimed by the Islamic State, as well as attacks last year that killed 147 others in and around Paris.

Information for this article was contributed by Angela Charlton, Lori Hinnant and Thomas Adamson of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/27/2016

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