A priest has been killed in an attack by two
armed men at his church in a suburb of Rouen in northern France.
The attackers entered the church in
Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass, taking the priest, Fr. Jacques Hamel, 84,
and four other people hostage.
Police later surrounded the church and French
TV said shots were fired. Both hostage-takers are now dead.
President Francois Hollande said the men
claimed to be from so-called Islamic State (IS).
Speaking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he said
the attackers had committed a "cowardly assassination" and France
would fight IS "by all means".
Pope Francis decried the "pain and
horror of this absurd violence".
French interior ministry spokesman,
Pierre-Henri Brandet, said one of the hostages had been critically wounded.
He said the hostage-takers had been
"neutralised" after coming out of the church. Police were now
searching the church for explosives.
Police sources said it appeared the attackers
had slit the priest's throat with a knife.
The area has been cordoned off and police
have told people to stay away.
Mr Brandet said the investigation into the
incident would be led by anti-terrorism prosecutors.
One of the men was known to the French
intelligence services, French TV channel M6 has reported.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has
expressed his horror at the "barbaric attack".
"The whole of France and all Catholics
are wounded. We will stand together," he wrote on Twitter.
The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun,
who was attending a Catholic gathering in Poland, said: "I cry out to God
with all men of goodwill. I would invite non-believers to join in the cry.
"The Catholic Church cannot take weapons
other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men."
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