2 shot dead after taking hostages in Normandy church

“He was very discreet and didn’t like to draw attention to himself”, she said. The Vatican also condemned the attack, labeling it “barbarous”.

Anti-terror chiefs have been appointed to take charge of the investigation and have arrested one person in connection with the attack.

THE Islamic State (IS) group said Tuesday that two of its “soldiers” had attacked a French church, slitting a priest’s throat in a country stunned by a series of jihadist attacks.

“They are trying to destroy our way of life”.

Special forces had surrounded the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in the north-eastern region of Upper Normandy and shot the attackers as they left the church.

“We knew he wanted to go to Syria”, a 60-year-old neighbour of the assailant’s family, who added that he “never saw him go to the mosque”.

The two Islamic State soldiers who murdered a French Priest used nuns as as human shields against anti-terrorism police.

Two men attacked a church near Rouen, France, on Tuesday, taking several hostages and killing a priest in his mid-80s before the attackers were shot to death by police.

In a recent ifop poll, 33 percent of people still trust the Socialist leader to overcome security challenge, 19 points down from the support ratings reported after last year’s two deadly attacks.

Tuesday’s attack took place during morning mass at the Saint-Etienne parish church, south of Rouen in Normandy.

Police rescued three people from the church, said Mr Brandet.

One hostage was seriously injured and is in a critical condition.

The hostage was Sister Danielle, a nun who was among a group of five people held captive when the attackers entered the church.

Two attacks in Germany claimed by the IS militants since then have also increased jitters in Europe. It is time for France and the whole European Union to care more about its citizens than political correctness.

Pope Francis decried what he called the “pain and horror” of what happened.

“I cry out to God … and I invite all non-believers to unite in this cry”, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

The church attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old delivery man killed 84 people by driving a heavy truck into crowd celebrating Bastille Day on July 14 in the southern French city of Nice.

The country is in a state of emergency and boosted visible police presence in the wake of attack in Nice this month. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris.

Shortly after the appeal, the hashtage #santosubito, which translates as “saint immediately”, began circulating on Twitter.

The president called it a “dreadful terrorist attack” and told reporters the attackers had pledge allegiance to IS.