Priest killed in attack on church in Normandy
SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, FRANCE— Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, crossed a new threshold Tuesday in its war against the West, as two of its followers targeted a church in Normandy, slitting the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass and using hostages as human shields before being shot by police.
It was the extremist group’s first attack against a church in the West, and fulfils long-standing threats against “crusaders” in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. One of the attackers had tried twice to leave for Syria; the second was not identified.
“To attack a church, to kill a priest, is to profane the republic,” French President François Hollande told the nation after speaking with Pope Francis, who condemned the killing in the strongest terms.
Rev. Jacques Hamel was celebrating mass for three nuns and two parishioners on a quiet summer morning in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when the attackers burst in and forced the 85-year-old priest to his knees before slicing his throat, according to authorities and a nun who escaped. The nun described seeing the attackers film themselves and give a sermon in Arabic around the altar. Paris prosecutor François Molins said the other hostages were used as human shields to block police from entering. One 86-year-old parishioner was wounded.
The two attackers were killed by police as they rushed from the building shouting “Allahu akbar,” Molins said. One had three knives and a fake explosives belt; the other carried a kitchen timer wrapped in aluminum foil and had fake explosives in his backpack.
One of the assailants was identified as Adel Kermiche, a 19-year-old who grew up in the town and tried to travel to Syria twice last year using family members’ identity documents, but was arrested outside France and handed preliminary terrorism charges.
Kermiche was put under house arrest with an electronic surveillance bracelet after a judge overruled prosecutors and agreed to free him, Molins said. However, the bracelet was deactivated for a few hours every morning as part of the surveillance agreement, Molins said — hours that corresponded to the time of the attack.