Islamists attack French church, slit priest's throat
Knife-wielding attackers interrupted a French church service, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat on July 26, a murder made even more shocking as one of the assailants was a known would-be jihadist under supposedly tight surveillance.
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As the attackers came out of the church shouting "Allahu akbar" (“God is Greatest”) they were shot and killed by police.
The men arrived during morning mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class town near Rouen, northwest of Paris, where the 85-year-old parish priest, Father Jacques Hamel, was leading prayers.
"They forced him to his knees and he tried to defend himself and that's when the drama began," Sister Danielle, who escaped as the attackers slayed the priest, told RMC radio.
Three other worshippers were held hostage until the assailants were killed, one of them was badly wounded during the attack.
News agency Amaq, which is affiliated with Islamic State, a group France is bombing in Iraq and Syria as part of a US-led coalition, said two of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack. Police said one person had been arrested.
France's anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins identified one of the attackers as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, a local man who was known to intelligence services after his failed bids to reach Syria to wage jihad.
