ISIS attackers cut priest’s throat in French church

Family friend Jonathan Sacarabany says Kermiche grew up in a housing project in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. He was only allowed to leave his home for a few hours a day.

A man was arrested Tuesday in connection with the attack, Lecuivre said.

They then made Hamel get on his knees before screaming “Allahu Akbar” and slitting his throat.

After his detention in France, he turned a deaf ear to acquaintances who tried to “reason with him”, said a 18-year-old former schoolmate named Redwan who knew Kermiche well.

The ISIS-linked Amaq News Agency released a statement Tuesday, posted by the group’s supporters, claiming the Normandy attackers were the terror outfit’s “soldiers”.

Are you in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray?

“They filmed themselves. It was like a sermon in Arabic around the altar”, the nun said.

Those who were able to escape alerted the police, who sent in a team specialised in dealing with hostage situations.

Priest Jacques Hamel had his throat slit in the attack, Lecuivre said.

The situation in the northern region of Normandy ended when the two attackers were shot dead by police, Brandet said.

Molins said police were unable to launch an assault on the church as three hostages were lined up in front of the door.

Hollande has called off a scheduled trip Prague, Czech Republic, on Wednesday and will instead hold meetings in France with religious leaders, defense officials and other government ministers, the Élysée Palace said.

A horrified local resident, Cecile Lefebre, said: “I have no words”.

The presidential palace tweeted that Pope Francis and Hollande spoke following the attack.

They took four people – some of them elderly parishioners – hostage along with 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel.

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 group, as well as a series of attacks past year that killed 147 others around Paris.

Since the Bastille Day mass murder in Nice there has been a spate of attacks in Germany, some of which appear to be Islamist-inspired.