France church attack: ISIS terrorists shot after ruthlessly slitting priest’s throat - TomoNews
- 8 years ago
SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, FRANCE — A pair of jihadists murdered a parish priest in northern France on Tuesday, despite one of the attackers reportedly being under tight surveillance.
Agence France-Presse reports that two men stormed a Catholic Church in Normandy’s Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday as mass was ending.
The attackers, armed with knives, took three nuns and two churchgoers hostage. They then forced Jacque Hamel, an 86-year-old priest, to kneel in front of the altar.
Sister Danielle, one of the nuns taken hostage, told the BBC that the attackers were recording the scene and preached in Arabic before slitting the priest’s throat, killing him. Meanwhile, another hostage was gravely injured after sustaining stab wounds to the throat and hip.
The nun said she managed to escape and notify police during the attack on Hamel.
French police tried to negotiate with the attackers through a small lateral door, but were unable to storm the building as the terrorists made the three hostages line up against the church door, blocking it.
When the doors were opened, the hostages fled and the terrorists exited the church, with one brandishing a handgun.
The two assailants were shot to death. They were found with knives, fake bombs covered in tinfoil and a foil-clad kitchen timer, according to CNN.
Agence France-Presse reports that two men stormed a Catholic Church in Normandy’s Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday as mass was ending.
The attackers, armed with knives, took three nuns and two churchgoers hostage. They then forced Jacque Hamel, an 86-year-old priest, to kneel in front of the altar.
Sister Danielle, one of the nuns taken hostage, told the BBC that the attackers were recording the scene and preached in Arabic before slitting the priest’s throat, killing him. Meanwhile, another hostage was gravely injured after sustaining stab wounds to the throat and hip.
The nun said she managed to escape and notify police during the attack on Hamel.
French police tried to negotiate with the attackers through a small lateral door, but were unable to storm the building as the terrorists made the three hostages line up against the church door, blocking it.
When the doors were opened, the hostages fled and the terrorists exited the church, with one brandishing a handgun.
The two assailants were shot to death. They were found with knives, fake bombs covered in tinfoil and a foil-clad kitchen timer, according to CNN.